^aSchool of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. E-mail: s.d.mcanulla@leeds.ac.uk

Abstract

This article provides a critique of the new interpretive approach to studying British politics as pioneered in the recent work of Rod Rhodes and Mark Bevir. Furthermore, it develops the case for an alternative 'postpositivist' approach to political analysis grounded in critical realist social theory. Both the philosophical assumptions and practical–analytical vocabulary of the new interpretive approach are examined. The approach is evaluated at both a theoretical level as well as in analysis of the case studies of Thatcherism and New Labour. Drawing on critical realist insights, it is proposed that Rhodes and Bevir offer an ultimately unsatisfactory account of the relationship between agents and context. Finally, it is argued that critical realism can be used to generate a practical–analytical vocabulary with advantages over the more established positivist, poststructuralist and interpretivist approaches to political science.