Individual skill
apsr-theory-building
Use when building the theoretical argument of an American Political Science Review (APSR) manuscript into a discipline-level contribution — whether the work is formal/game-theoretic, empirical with explicit mechanisms, interpretive, or normative. APSR rewards a clear, portable argument over a bare finding. Structures the argument; it does not run analyses.
American-Political-Science-Review-Skills/skills/apsr-theory-building/SKILL.md
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# Theory & Argument Building (apsr-theory-building)
At APSR a result is not a contribution until it is attached to an **argument the discipline can use
elsewhere.** This skill turns findings into theory: explicit mechanisms, scope conditions, and
observable implications, in the idiom appropriate to your kind of work.
## When to trigger
- The empirics are strong but the "so what / why" is thin
- A reviewer said the paper is "atheoretical," "ad hoc," or "just a finding"
- You need to state mechanisms, assumptions, and scope conditions explicitly
- Formal modeling: deciding what to model, what to assume, and what the model buys you
## Build the argument (by mode of work)