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How did the postbehavioral synthesis combine different approaches to political science?

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Rubbing of Chinese philosopher Confucius in traditional robes with a long beard, based on a design attributed to Wu Tao-hsuan, with Chinese characters above and beside the figure. — political science Stone rubbing (19th century?) of Confucius from a design attributed to Wu Daoxuan (flourished 700–760 CE).

The postbehavioral synthesis emerged in the late 1960s as a response to the limitations of behavioralism, which had become the dominant approach in political science during the 1950s and 1960s. While behavioralists focused on quantifiable, empirical data and the actions of individual political actors, critics argued that this approach was often narrow, ignored the complexities of governance, and failed to address major political issues.12

The postbehavioral synthesis combined these different approaches by acknowledging that the rigorous, empirical methods of behavioralism were insufficient on their own. It integrated the behavioralist commitment to scientific observation with the unquantified, qualitative insights of traditionalists. Traditionalists had historically focused on philosophy, history, and the formal structures of institutions—areas that behavioralists had largely discarded in their pursuit of statistical relationships.12

By the 1980s, this synthesis further evolved into neoinstitutionalism. This movement successfully bridged the gap by examining how institutional structures, rules, and norms constrain the choices of individual actors, thereby reuniting the study of formal institutions with the study of individual political behavior.2