Some critics have argued that political theory is just political philosophy with some of its conceptual depth stripped away. In France, Germany, and throughout continental Europe more generally, completing a course of study in political philosophy has generally led to a position at a university or large research institution, where one could hope to work with “real” philosophy, to elaborate dense theoretical worlds, and to study the classics, whether ancient or modern. Others authors are viewed as a secondary literature. This can have significant drawbacks when political philosophy is limited to the exegesis of well-known authors—which is often the case in France—but does nonetheless imply a real conceptual depth. In English-speaking countries, it is more customary to address contemporary topics first and foremost, while classical references and analogies play a secondary role. Globally, however, the institutional field is favorable to the emergence of grand theories that go far beyond the confines of philosophy. In just the last half-century in the Western world, thinkers such as Louis Althusser, Étienne Balibar, Simone de Beauvoir, Judith Butler, Michel Foucault, Jürgen Habermas, Axel Honneth, Ernesto Laclau, Susan Moller Okin, Toni Negri, Martha Nussbaum, Jacques Rancière, and John Rawls have enjoyed broad influence beyond their discipline of origin. Nothing equivalent has occurred in the world of political theory. Even Bernard Manin, likely the most influential French political theorist, has had limited impact compared to the predominant French political philosophers of his era…