Self Interest and Public Interest in Western Politics

Self Interest and Public Interest in Western Politics PDF Author: Leif Lewin
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0198277261
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
Leif Lewin examines more than two hundred studies of democracy in action from seventeen countries, to address the question of whether Western politics is dominated by self-interest or public interest. - ;Is it self-interest or public interest that dominates Western politics? This question has been debated in many fields, and through the 1980s a consensus developed, supported by extensive research, that in their political decisions and actions people are largely motivated by self-interest, not by common good. In this book, combining in a novel way insights from different fields, including rational choice theory, political philosophy, and electoral research, Leif Lewin examines more than two hundred studies of democracy in action from seventeen countries. He looks at the behaviour and attitudes of voters, bureaucrats, and politicians in turn, and challenges the accepted wisdom. In his wide-ranging review of the literature he shows that people are in fact actuated by broader considerations than their own short-sighted interests: that they act politically `in the shadow of the future'; that they find there are overwhelming reasons to try to contribute to the long-term common good. Professor Lewin shows, in short, that the plausible and prevalent theory that egoism rules simply don't match the facts. - ;Self-interest and public interest; Does the voter vote according to his pocket-book?; Are politicians vote-maximizers?; Are bureaucrats budget-maximizers?; Individual and collective rationality -

Self Interest and Public Interest in Western Politics

Self Interest and Public Interest in Western Politics PDF Author: Leif Lewin
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0198277261
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 154

Get Book Here

Book Description
Leif Lewin examines more than two hundred studies of democracy in action from seventeen countries, to address the question of whether Western politics is dominated by self-interest or public interest. - ;Is it self-interest or public interest that dominates Western politics? This question has been debated in many fields, and through the 1980s a consensus developed, supported by extensive research, that in their political decisions and actions people are largely motivated by self-interest, not by common good. In this book, combining in a novel way insights from different fields, including rational choice theory, political philosophy, and electoral research, Leif Lewin examines more than two hundred studies of democracy in action from seventeen countries. He looks at the behaviour and attitudes of voters, bureaucrats, and politicians in turn, and challenges the accepted wisdom. In his wide-ranging review of the literature he shows that people are in fact actuated by broader considerations than their own short-sighted interests: that they act politically `in the shadow of the future'; that they find there are overwhelming reasons to try to contribute to the long-term common good. Professor Lewin shows, in short, that the plausible and prevalent theory that egoism rules simply don't match the facts. - ;Self-interest and public interest; Does the voter vote according to his pocket-book?; Are politicians vote-maximizers?; Are bureaucrats budget-maximizers?; Individual and collective rationality -

Bureaucrats Between Self Interest and Public Interest

Bureaucrats Between Self Interest and Public Interest PDF Author: William A. Niskanen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Book Description


Beyond Politics

Beyond Politics PDF Author: William Mitchell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429720483
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
Traditional public policy and welfare economics have held that market failures are common, requiring the intervention of government in order to serve and protect the public good. In Beyond Politics, William C. Mitchell and Randy T. Simmons carefully scrutinize this traditional view through the modern theory of public choice. The authors enlighten the relationship of government and markets by emphasizing the actual rather than the ideal workings of governments and by reuniting the insights of economics with those of political science. Beyond Politics traces the anatomy of government failure and a pathology of contemporary political institutions as government has become a vehicle for private gain at public expense. In so doing, this brisk and vigorous book examines a host of public issues, including social welfare, consumer protection, and the environment. Offering a unified and powerful perspective on the market process, property rights, politics, contracts, and government bureaucracy, Beyond Politics is a lucid and comprehensive book on the foundations and institutions of a free and humane society.

Regulation and the Reagan Era

Regulation and the Reagan Era PDF Author: Roger E. Meiners
Publisher: Independent Institute
ISBN: 1598132997
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
Was the so-called “Reagan Revolution” a disappointment regarding the federal systems of special-interest regulation? Many of that administration's friends as well as its opponents think so. But under what criteria? To what extent? And why? When Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, the popular belief was that the size of government would be cut and that some of the regulatory excesses of the prior decade would be rolled back. However, the growth of the federal government continued throughout the Reagan presidency and no agencies were phased out. What were the apparently powerful forces that rendered most of the bureaucracy impervious to reform? In this book, professional economists and lawyers who were at, or near, the top of the decision-making process in various federal agencies during the Reagan years discuss attempts to reign in the bureaucracy. Their candid comments and personal insights shed new light on the susceptibility of the American government to bureaucratic interests. This book is required reading for anyone wishing to understand the true reasons why meaningful, effective governmental reform at the federal level is so difficult, regardless of which political party controls the White House or Congress.

Self-interest and Public Interest in Western Politics

Self-interest and Public Interest in Western Politics PDF Author: Leif Lewin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780191599774
Category : Common good
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
Although Professor Lewin is not testing existing views that, for people in politics, 'egoism rules' on deep theoretical grounds, he strongly argues that empirical facts do not support such views and thus opens a new chapter in the debate on individuals' rationality.

Law and Public Choice

Law and Public Choice PDF Author: Daniel A. Farber
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226238113
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
In Law and Public Choice, Daniel Farber and Philip Frickey present a remarkably rich and accessible introduction to the driving principles of public choice. In this, the first systematic look at the implications of social choice for legal doctrine, Farber and Frickey carefully review both the empirical and theoretical literature about interest group influence and provide a nonmathematical introduction to formal models of legislative action. Ideal for course use, this volume offers a balanced and perceptive analysis and critique of an approach which, within limits, can illuminate the dynamics of government decision-making. “Law and Public Choice is a most valuable contribution to the burgeoning literature. It should be of great interest to lawyers, political scientists, and all others interested in issues at the intersection of government and law.”—Cass R. Sunstein, University of Chicago Law School

Ethics for Bureaucrats

Ethics for Bureaucrats PDF Author: John Rohr
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351449532
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
This important text integrates the study of ethics into public management training, highlighting Supreme Court opinions on three specific constitutional values-equality, freedom, and property-focusing on the pedagogical aspects of law and posing challenging questions to help readers apply theories to concrete situations. It includes a case index for further research. Topics of specific interest include abortion, affirmative action, bureaucratic bashing, civil disobedience, the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Iran-Contra scandal, moral absolutism, privileged communications, religious fundamentalism, and whistle blowing. The Midwest Review of Pubic Administration lauds it as "...a unique teaching tool."

Regulation and the Reagan Era

Regulation and the Reagan Era PDF Author: Roger E. Meiners
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780945999713
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Was the so-called "Reagan Revolution" a disappointment regarding the federal systems of special-interest regulation? Many of that administration's friends as well as its opponents think so. But under what criteria? To what extent? And why? When Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, the popular belief was that the size of government would be cut and that some of the regulatory excesses of the prior decade would be rolled back. However, the growth of the federal government continued throughout the Reagan presidency and no agencies were phased out. What were the apparently powerful forces that rendered most of the bureaucracy impervious to reform? In this book, professional economists and lawyers who were at, or near, the top of the decision-making process in various federal agencies during the Reagan years discuss attempts to reign in the bureaucracy. Their candid comments and personal insights shed new light on the susceptibility of the American government to bureaucratic interests. This book is required reading for anyone wishing to understand the true reasons why meaningful, effective governmental reform at the federal level is so difficult, regardless of which political party controls the White House or Congress.

Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy PDF Author: Gordon Tullock
Publisher: Selected Works of Gordon Tullo
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
Gordon Tullock is among a small group of living legends in the field of political economics. This volume provides an entree to the mind of an original thinker. Professor Rowley provides deliberately sparse contextual introduction to each volume, opting to allow the very able and eloquent Tullock to speak for himself.

Street-Level Bureaucracy

Street-Level Bureaucracy PDF Author: Michael Lipsky
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610443624
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
Street-Level Bureaucracy is an insightful study of how public service workers, in effect, function as policy decision makers, as they wield their considerable discretion in the day-to-day implementation of public programs.