Democracy, Bureaucracy, and Public Choice: Economic Explanations in Political Science

Public choice approaches have revolutionized contemporary political science, particularly in the United States. In addition, because public choice methods are closely associated with "new right" political movements, their impact on practical politics has also been considerable, for example, in encouraging the adoption of privatization and bureaucratic competition. This book develops a critique of new right views through its coverage of aspects of the public choice/new right literature. It reviews the best-known works of empirical theory in the field - by authors such as Downs and Niskanen - and also provides a guide to less well-known authors and specialized sub-fields. This book was the winner of the PSA W.J.M MacKenzie Prize for the best book in political science, 1991.