Most cited papers in Political Theory and Influence

Political Theory and Influence

What are the most cited papers in Political Theory and Influence?

The most cited paper in Political Theory and Influence is "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy" (Seymour Martin Lipset, 1959), with 7,088 citations. Next come "The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life" (4,002) and "Coloniality of Power and Eurocentrism in Latin America" (3,084).

Published TypeAccessCitations

Showing 50 of 98 papers. Every paper with more than 143 citations is listed.

Most cited papers, sortable by citations and release date
#	Paper
1	Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy Seymour Martin Lipset · American Political Science Review	Mar 1959	7,088
2	The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life James G. March, Johan Pelck Olsen · American Political Science Review	Dec 1983	4,002
3	Coloniality of Power and Eurocentrism in Latin America Aníbal Quijano · International Sociology	Jun 2000	3,084
4	The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte Karl Marx · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapterOpen access	18 Jan 1996	2,316
5	Democracy and Disagreement Alain Boyer · Ratio Juris	Mar 1995	1,214
6	Meaning and understanding in the history of ideas Quentin Skinner · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter	4 Aug 2010	1,132
7	On Legitimacy and Political Deliberation Bernard Manin · Political Theory	Aug 1987	1,103
8	Civil Society and the Collapse of the Weimar Republic Sheri Berman · World Politics	Apr 1997	1,102
9	Political Theory and International Relations Hidemi Suganami · International Affairs	1980	1,076
10	‘Delegation and Accountability in Parliamentary Democracies' Antonino Palumbo, Richard Bellamy Book chapter	2 Mar 2017	1,009
11	Sparks and prairie fires: A theory of unanticipated political revolution Timur Kuran · Public Choice	Apr 1989	856
12	An Approach to the Analysis of Political Systems David Easton · World Politics	Apr 1957	739
13	Radical interpretation David Lewis · Synthese	1974	718
14	Beyond Tocqueville, Myrdal, and Hartz: The Multiple Traditions in America Rogers M. Smith · American Political Science Review	Sep 1993	690
15	Realism in political theory William A. Galston · European Journal of Political Theory	Oct 2010	666
16	Bad Civil Society Simone Chambers, Jeffrey S. Kopstein · Political Theory	Dec 2001	640
17	Critique of Practical Reason Immanuel Kant · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter	13 Nov 1997	631
18	Structure, Agency and Historical Institutionalism Colin Hay, Daniel Wincott · Political Studies	Dec 1998	550
19	Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy Fred H. Lawson · Political Science Quarterly	1999	545
20	The richness of the tradition of political realism Robert G. Gilpin · International Organization	1984	532
21	Realism in Normative Political Theory Enzo Rossi, Matt Sleat · Philosophy Compass Open access	Oct 2014	521
22	Constitutional Democracy Jürgen Habermas · Political Theory	Dec 2001	510
23	Political Feasibility: A Conceptual Exploration Pablo Gilabert, Holly Lawford‐Smith · Political Studies	7 Feb 2012	484
24	Rousseau's General Will: A Condorcetian Perspective Bernard Grofman, Scott L. Feld · American Political Science Review	Jun 1988	472
25	Elaborating the “New Institutionalism” James G. March, Johan Pelck Olsen · Oxford University Press eBooks Book chapter	2 Sep 2009	468
26	Conservatism and Personality Herbert McClosky · American Political Science Review	Mar 1958	438
27	Path Dependency, or Why History Makes It Difficult but Not Impossible to Reform Health Care Systems in a Big Way David Wilsford · Journal of Public Policy	Jul 1994	414
28	Is public justification self-defeating? Steven Wall · American Philosophical Quarterly	Dec 2002	402
29	Passions and constraint: on the theory of liberal democracy Ross Granville Harrison · International Affairs	1996	401
30	What is the Problem with Experts? Stephen Turner · Social Studies of Science	Feb 2001	399
31	Retrospectives: The Ethology of Homo Economicus Joseph Persky · The Journal of Economic Perspectives	May 1995	392
32	John Locke, Carolina, and the Two Treatises of Government David Armitage · Political Theory	7 Sep 2004	385
33	Collusion and the theory of organizations Jean Tirole · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter	2 Dec 2008	377
34	The History of Political Theory John M. Dunn · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter	14 Dec 1995	363
35	Constituting the polity, constituting the demos: on the place of the all affected interests principle in democratic theory and in resolving the democratic boundary problem David Andrew Owen · Ethics & Global Politics Open access	2012	357
36	Liberalismo e democracia Claude Lefort, Eliana Maria de Melo Souza	2008	352
37	V.—UTILITARIANISM AND NEW GENERATIONS Jan Narveson · Mind	1967	350
38	What Is Liberalism? Duncan S. A. Bell · Political Theory Open access	26 Jun 2014	318
39	Being a Successful Professional: An Exploration of Who Makes Partner in the Big 4 Chris Carter, Crawford Spence · Contemporary Accounting Research Open access	17 Aug 2013	314
40	Neorepublicanism: A Normative and Institutional Research Program Frank Lovett, Philip N. Pettit · Annual Review of Political Science Review	11 May 2009	311
41	Political Theory as a Vocation Sheldon S.HG Wolin · American Political Science Review	Dec 1969	304
42	Functionalism and Broad Content Frank Jackson, Philip N. Pettit · Mind	1988	297
43	The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln Cedric DeLeon · Comparative Studies in Society and History	15 Dec 2006	266
44	Labor Republicanism and the Transformation of Work Alex Gourevitch · Political Theory	27 May 2013	260
45	Who Wants to be an Active Citizen? Mike Marinetto · Sociology	Feb 2003	259
46	Politicization of the Electorate in France and the United States Philip E. Converse, Georges Dupeux · Public Opinion Quarterly	1962	242
47	The Interpretation of the Moral Philosophy of J. S. Mill J. O. Urmson · The Philosophical Quarterly	1953	226
48	Representation as Advocacy Nadia Urbinati · Political Theory	Dec 2000	225
49	Inventing the Individual: The Origins of Western Liberalism Geoff Wells · Journal of Church and State	9 Jul 2015	223
50	The Political Philosophy of the British Idealists. Stephen R. L. Clark, Peter Nicholson · The Philosophical Quarterly	Jul 1991	222

Citations are OpenAlex's own counts, from its 2026-09-23 snapshot, so the ranking can differ from Google Scholar or Web of Science. A paper is listed for a field when OpenAlex files it under one of the field's topics; retracted papers and papers whose citation count cannot be traced to citing works are left out, and a preprint and the article it became are shown once. Release dates are OpenAlex's: where a source gave only a month or a year, that is what is shown. How the lists are chosen.