№ 3 - 2010
Malinova O.Yu.
Ideas as Independent Variables in Political Studies: in Search of Adequate Methodology

The article contains analysis of recent methodological discussions on the perspectives of using ideas for explaining political phenomena and processes. It deals with the problem of conceptualization and operationalization of ideational factors and analyzes the difficulties that their inclusion into existing theoretic models presents. Finally, it outlines some prospects for conjugation of material and ideational factors in the study of politics.