H. D. Lasswell's Developmental Analysis

SHE EXISTENCE of a scientific discipline hinges on simultaneous presence of two minimum requirements: first, it must have a body of theory or, at least, a conceptual schema within which empirical data can be so selected and organized that they will derive their meaning and significance from relevance to a theoretical structure; and, secondly, it must develop methods of inquiry which are consistent with canons of scientific investigation. Until recently, science has been devoid of a consistent conceptual schema conducive to empirical inquiry. Only in last few years has there been a gradual emergence of consensus among scientists to effect that central problem of their discipline is not the state or political power, but rather those processes of action through which, in David Easton's terms, values are authoritatively allocated in what may be conceived of as political system. I Politics, then, means decision-making in situations involving, to use a Lasswellian expression, the shaping and sharing of values, and policy formation appears as focus of investigation. Concern with methodology has not been a hallmark of science. One seeks in vain in vast literature of politics for kind and degree of methodological awareness easily found in work of economists, sociologists, or psychologists. Again, there has been some change in recent years. Younger scholars, under influence of neighboring social sciences, have increasingly paid serious attention to methodological matters.2 But their efforts have remained random and noncumulative. The only persistent and consistent discussion of methodology can be found in work of Harold D. Lasswell,3 and there it is scattered through numerous books and articles of three decades.