Original scientific paper
VOTERS, POLITICIANS, AND BUREAUCRACY AND THE THEORY OF PUBLIC CHOICE
Zagorka Brunsko
; Fakultet za turizam i vanjsku trgovinu Sveučilišta u Dubrovniku, Dubrovnik, Hrvatska
Abstract
The theory of public choice is a major link between political science and economic science. It includes economic research into the issue of non-market decision- making i.e. the application of economic analysis to political decisionmaking. The champions of the theory of public choice have most confidence in the market and the market institutions. They try to explain political decisionmaking by means of the standards operating on the market. The public choice theory approach is based on the concept of methodological individualism and homo oeconomicus, since individuals try to promote their own interests both on the market and in politics. Theoreticians of public choice investigate voters’ behaviour, the roles of politicians, political parties, and interest groups in complex democratic societies. Central for their research is the political process in which voters behave as buyers, politicians as entrepreneurs, while bureaucrats are prone to self-aggrandisement and their ambition is to boost the significance of their office. The theory of public choice emphasises the category of exchange (political exchange) and the catalectic approach to economy.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
31970
URI
Publication date:
9.9.1999.
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