Law and Theory According to Waltz

Waltz argues that law is a collection of facts or observations, which depict relationships between various variables like concepts of different values regardless of whether those variables are either dependent or independent. An invariant relation, in this case, would result in an absolute law, although it can as well be discovered from a relationship that has been found repeatedly. However, Waltz defines a theory as a set of laws that specifically describe a given behavior or phenomena, which can be tested based on the various degree of correlations of the probabilistic laws (Waltz, 1979). This implies that the theory is built from a collection of carefully verified related hypotheses. Explicitly, there is a close linkage between law and theory because the latter explains the quantitative statements that form the fundamental concepts of law. 

Laws can, therefore, overtly identify either invariant or probable associations while theories explain the reasons behind the existence of those associations. Notably, theories are fundamental observational or laboratory procedures upon which laws are dependent on passing experimental tests that guide human behavior and society in general. And because Waltz could not hypothesize the theories based on induction alone, he argued that it is crucial to invent the theoretical notions from concepts like force and assumptions (Waltz, 1979). However, such forces are not meant to explain anything, although the success of theories that explain those perceptions should justify the theoretical notions. Noteworthy, a theory can be a set of laws, and this means that it explains either one or more laws to help us get beyond mere facts of observations. Conversely, the theories tend to help us predict possible outcomes in regards to the knowledge of the regularity of associations that are inherent in the laws. 

Reference 

Waltz, K. N. (1979). Theory of International Politics. Berkeley: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.