Abstract
‘Rational choice in political science’ stands for the application of the economics approach in the study of political phenomena. The research program is to rationalize collective behaviour that comes across as stupid or counterproductive. In its highbrow (esoteric) variant, rational choice is on the way out in political science. In its low-brow (sensible) variant, rational choice is here to stay, not as the dominant approach, but as one of three equal, and complementary, approaches: the rationalist approach, which focuses on individual agency; the culturalist approach, which centres on collective identities; and the structuralist approach, which emphasizes historical institutionalism.
This chapter was originally published in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd edition, 2008. Edited by Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume.
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Lohmann, S. (2008). Rational Choice and Political Science. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_2341-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_2341-1
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