The Rhetorical Capital of Theories, and what Ought to be Done about it: The Democratic Peace Thesis and the Road to the Roadmap.

The article introduces the concept of rhetorical capital, which is defined as the aggregate persuasive resources inherent in entities. It then proceeds to apply the concept to the study of theories. By focusing on the democratic peace thesis and its mobilization by the Israeli right, the article seeks to identify which resources of theories? rhetorical capital render theories vulnerable to political and rhetorical abuses. It concludes by outlining some normative and metatheoretical implications. With reference to Robert Goodin?s conceptualization of ?task responsibility,? it is suggested that theoreticians have a collective moral responsibility to modify the work of theorizing in a way that would minimize theories? vulnerability to political and rhetorical abuses. This modification should begin by renouncing the objectivity claim and introducing a normative ethic as a substitute to the existing objective ethic: a normative ethic that acknowledges the moral basis of theories and commits theoreticians morally. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]