Populism and the rational choice model: The case of the French National Front

2021 ◽  
pp. 104346312199596
Author(s):  
François Facchini ◽  
Louis Jaeck
Keyword(s):  
Political Party ◽  
General Model ◽  
Choice Model ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Utility Model ◽  
National Front ◽  
General Process ◽  
Expressive Voting ◽  
Rational Choice Model ◽  
Political Norms

This article proposes a general model of partisan political dealignment based on the theory of expressive voting. It is based on the Riker and Odershook equation. Voters cast a ballot for a political party if the utility associated with expressing their support for it is more than their expressive costs. Expressive utility is modeled here as a certain utility model. Then, the model is applied to the rise of voting support in favor of French right-wing populists, the National Front (FN). We show that the fall of justification costs of FN ideology along with the decline in stigmatization costs of voting in favor of the extreme right has fostered the popularity of this party. Political dealignment here is only a particular case of a general process of political norms transgression inherited by each voter.

Party systems and ideological cleavages in the Middle East and North Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 135406881989429
Author(s):  
Abdullah Aydogan
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Mena Countries

Previous studies have contrasted the political party systems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with those in more democratic countries, raising three important points: (1) the religious–secular dimension, rather than the economic or social left–right, explains the underlying political party competition; (2) left-wing politics is relatively weaker than right-wing politics; and (3) parties that are traditionally known as rightist take left-leaning positions on numerous issue dimensions, and vice versa. Even though this particular literature on party politics in the MENA has greatly improved our understanding of political dynamics in the region, these studies have either lacked quantitative evidence to support these points or their evidence was limited to single-country cases. This study aims to address this issue by analyzing original expert survey data of the ideological positions of political parties in the MENA region. Results show that in addition to the religious–secular dimension, the economic left–right divide and the pace of political reforms are highly important dimensions. The study also provides numerous examples showing that the policy stances of leftist and rightist parties are significantly reversed when MENA countries are compared with more developed democracies.

Do Agritourism Visitors Care about Landscapes? An Examination with Producer-Level Data

2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 360-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard T. Melstrom ◽  
Cassandra Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Choice Model ◽  
Destination Choice ◽  
Random Utility ◽  
Utility Model ◽  
Cross Section Data ◽  
Section Data ◽  
Conditional Logit ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Tourist Demand ◽  
Landscape Attributes

This article develops a random utility model of tourist demand for agritourism destinations. Prior research has largely focused on modeling the effect of visitor characteristics and demographics on the demand for agritourism. In contrast, we analyze cross-section data on producer-reported visits to measure the effects of destination attributes. This allows us to examine whether tourists choose destinations based on landscape attributes. The destination choice model is applied to agritourism demand in Oklahoma. We calculate elasticities from both conditional logit and Poisson interpretations of the model. The results provide no evidence that landscapes affect the demand for single-day sites, but do suggest local land use plays a role in the demand for overnight destinations.

Regulating Crime: The Birth of the Idea, Its Nurture, and the Implications for Contemporary Criminology

2018 ◽  
Vol 679 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald V. Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Rational Choice ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Choice Model ◽  
Dominant Model ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
Rational Choice Model ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Management Changes

This volume’s contention that regulations have a powerful role in crime control contradicts the prevailing positivism of criminology—that is, the contention that criminality is largely explained by criminals’ past experiences. This article draws upon recent critiques of positivism and explains the implications for contemporary criminology. It begins by describing the ideas of a London magistrate, Patrick Colquhoun, about the determinants of crime and the best means of its control. Colquhoun’s writings were the first developed discussion of regulating crime, but they were soon eclipsed by positivist thinking. I list numerous weakness of positivism and argue that, instead of seeing offenders’ behavior as determined by their past, greater account should be taken of the situational inducements and opportunities to commit crime that they encounter in their everyday lives. Instead of positivism, the dominant model of criminology and crime control should be a neoclassicist, bounded rational choice model, which would introduce situational design and management changes to restrict offenders choices and modify behavior. That change in orientation would open limitless opportunities for criminologists.

scholarly journals Hijacking Sorrow, Joy, Pleasure and Reward: A Philosophical Interpretive Framework for the Theory of Alcohol Addiction

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-136
Author(s):  
Valery Yevarouski
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Misuse ◽  
Choice Model ◽  
Alcohol Addiction ◽  
Behavioral Activity ◽  
English Only ◽  
Recovery Processes ◽  
Philosophical Interpretation ◽  
Rational Choice Model ◽  
Broad Interpretation ◽  
System Disorder

[full article, abstract in English; only abstract in Lithuanian] This article offers a philosophical interpretation of the key concepts of alcohol addiction in neuroscience (the anhedonia hypothesis, the want-like system, the incentive salience hypothesis) and psychology (the rational choice model). A comprehensive, transdisciplinary review of the theories of alcohol addiction is performed and their applications to the treatment and recovery processes are discussed. As a core component, we reconstruct the experience to become habitual during subsequent alcohol misuse. As a result, the article proposes a philosophical theory for the broad interpretation of the concept of addiction as a reward system disorder with an application for cognitive and behavioral activity.

Normative Judgment, Realism, and International Law

2021 ◽  
pp. 58-85
Author(s):  
Carmen E. Pavel
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Rational Choice ◽  
Choice Model ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Actor Model ◽  
Normative Judgment ◽  
Moral Ideal ◽  
State Behavior ◽  
Rational Choice Model ◽  
Bilateral Treaties

A strand of thought within international relations realism claims that international law, understood as the dense network of multilateral and bilateral treaties, customary law, and institutions tasked with interpreting and applying them, cannot have meaningfully legal authority. This chapter traces the genealogy of the realist take on international law to a problematic use of the rational choice model for state behavior. Namely, realists derive skeptical positions about the authority and value of international law by using the rational choice model applied to states prescriptively rather than merely descriptively. With parsimonious assumptions about instrumental rationality, preferences, and choice situations, realists have put the model to good use to explain state action in the context of international politics. But they go much further, by taking the rational actor model to articulate an implicit moral ideal for states.

Big Business and the Failure of Right-Wing Catalan Nationalism, 1901–1923

1976 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 901-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Big Business ◽  
Electoral Success

The rise of modern Catalan nationalist sentiments dates from the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In essence, these sentiments reflected a growing political, intellectual and, to a lesser extent economic resentment within the region of Catalonia against the Restoration regime which was imposed upon Spain in 1875. The breakthrough of Catalan nationalism, or regionalism as it is sometimes called, to become a significant force in Spanish politics followed the victory of four Catalanist candidates in the elections to the Cortes of 1901. Shortly afterwards the groups responsible for that electoral success came together to establish what was, with the possible exception of the Socialists (P.S.O.E.), the first modern political party of Spain, the Lliga Regionalista. Significantly, the foundation of the Lliga marked a turning point in the nature of Catalan nationalism, or at least its dominant strain. Of the four candidates elected in 1901, all for Barcelona seats, three represented economic interests. Indeed, much more than that, they were, or had been, presidents of three of the most powerful big business organisations of the region.

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