Political Capital Conceptualization: Reclaiming the Heart of Democracy

Abstract

The term 'political capital' has shown remarkable persistence in academic and popular literatures and covers aspects of politics otherwise inaccessible to mainstream political science. However, conceptual difficulties also persist along with the term’s widespread usage. This article attempts to correct conceptual deficiencies for the term 'political capital' by examining its academic usage through (i) a qualitative content analysis of 750 Oxford Journals and SAGE Publications between 1890 and 2008; and (ii) analysis of prior attempts to conceptualize the term. The analysis concludes with an argument that (i) political capital is engendered in the relations between publics and politics, and (ii) rethinks the significance and meaning of political capital for contemporary political science.