Abstract

Conceptual history is no mere auxiliary discipline in the study of politics, and political biases are inherent in the conceptual history.The two ›disciplines‹ are connected with each other by the contestability of concepts that helps to understand their contingent and controversial, i. e. political character. The contestability of concepts is used as a heuristic tool to understand conceptual and political changes. The use of concepts is a part of political struggles and, conversely, these struggles are shaped by conceptual changes. As an approach to political science, conceptual history can partially replace the history of ideas. In addition, a ›lateral‹ history of concepts can serve as a specific perspective on textual analysis, introducing a historical dimension to the analysis of contemporary texts and offering an alternative to the unhistorical and unlinguistic ›comparative politics‹. Furthermore, case studies of past concepts can be used as a distancing subversion of contemporary normative political theory. Finally, conceptual history can infuse new perspectives into the disciplinary history, especially by relating it to the historiography of the concept of politics itself.