Rational Choice Political Theory

The chapter explains that political power is fundamental to politics and thus of foremost interest to those interested in political science and political theory. Power is implicated in causation but is more problematic as it concerns the capacities of agents and how they choose to wield them. The chapter discusses the contestability of concepts and dismisses those who think that power cannot be analysed since it is essentially contested concept. It utilizes what has become known as the subscript gambit to overcome the contestability of concepts. It argues we need not think concepts are contested even though we acknowledge that there is social normative pluralism. It concludes by arguing that the lens of rational choice is the most useful tool for understanding the concept of power and providing tools for analysing it in concrete political situations

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3 Distributed Effectivity: Political Theory and Rational Choice

Individuality and Entanglement ◽

10.1515/9781400883165-004 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 45-66

Keyword(s):

Political Theory ◽

Rational Choice

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Forum: Really existing communities

Review of International Studies ◽

10.1017/s0260210599001412 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 141-146 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

JEAN BETHKE ELSHTAIN

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

Political Theory ◽

Rational Choice ◽

Moral Theory ◽

Ethical Issues ◽

Political Community ◽

Human Beings ◽

War And Peace ◽

As If

It seems almost churlish to criticize a book as well-intentioned and clearly argued as The Transformation of Political Community. There is much in the volume to admire and to endorse. But there are also problems—there always are—and I will move to address these shortly. First, however, I want to point to some of the book's undeniable strengths. Perhaps the most refreshing aspect of Linklater's argument is the manner in which he takes on board a number of the perduring vexations of political and moral theory and addresses these within the context of international relations. For too long political theory and ‘IR’ have occupied separate niches, as if these two enterprises had little to do with one another. The result of the separation has been an impoverishment of both realms. ‘IR’ could move along as if questions of war and peace, security, order, power, engagement, citizen and soldier were not inescapably political and ethical issues impossible to deal with adequately in a manner that models sophisticatedly but falls flat conceptually. Too many underlying presuppositions in such undertakings are not brought to the surface and dealt with as is painfully evident in rational choice accounts with their impoverished views of what makes human beings tick.

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On Rationality

Political Studies Review ◽

10.1177/1478929918771455 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 306-317 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

James Craske ◽

Janis Loschmann

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Political Theory ◽

Rational Choice ◽

Industrial Revolution ◽

Rational Choice Theory ◽

Choice Theory ◽

Instrumental Reason ◽

Political Analysis ◽

Four Books ◽

Duke University

Rationality is an enduring topic of interest across the disciplines and has become even more so, given the current crises that are unfolding in our society. The four books reviewed here, which are written by academics working in economics, political science, political theory and philosophy, provide an interdisciplinary engagement with the idea of rationality and the way it has shaped the institutional frameworks and global political economy of our time. Rational choice theory has certainly proved to be a useful analytic tool in certain contexts, and instrumental reason has been a key tenet of human progress in several periods of history, including the industrial revolution and the modernity that emerged in the nineteenth century. Given the complexity of our current challenges, however, is it time to ask whether this paradigm might be better complemented by more holistic and heterodox approaches? Hindmoor A and Taylor TY (2015) Rational Choice (Political Analysis), 2nd edn. London; New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Massumi (2015) The Power at the End of the Economy. Durham: Duke University Press. Brown (2015) Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution. New York: Zone Books. Ludovisi SG (ed.) (2015) Critical Theory and the Challenge of Praxis: Beyond Reification. Farnham; Burlington, VT: Ashgate.

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Jon Elster, Sour Grapes

The Oxford Handbook of Classics in Contemporary Political Theory ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198717133.013.51 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Eric Schliesser

Keyword(s):

Political Theory ◽

Rational Choice ◽

Rational Choice Theory ◽

Choice Theory ◽

Policy Science ◽

Adaptive Preferences ◽

Intellectual Context ◽

The Relationship

This chapter evaluates Jon Elster’s Sour Grapes: Studies in the Subversion of Rationality thirty-five years after publication. In the first section of the chapter, Elster’s work is put in intellectual context. The chapter draws attention to the significance of Elster’s framework in changing our understanding and scope of rational choice theory. It argues that the focus on adaptive preferences has opened up important questions for any political theory and policy science confronting the relationship between experts and the agents theorized. In the second section of the chapter Elster’s aesthetics and his critical treatment of Foucault is re-evaluated and found to be less compelling. In particular, Elster’s critique of a certain kind of consequence explanation is criticized.

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