Rational Choice

The rational choice approach to the study of politics involves the application of the methods of economics to the study of politics. We say more about this in the following section, but two key assumptions which are of absolutely central importance to rational choice can be immediately highlighted: rationality and self-interest. No matter what aspect of politics they are looking at and no matter whose behaviour they are seeking to account for, rational choice theorists, with some exceptions discussed below, start by assuming that people can be relied upon to act in ways which best secure their goals and that these goals reflect their self-interest. The plausibility of these assumptions can be challenged. But their utility cannot be doubted because if people are rational and self-interested it is possible to construct simple but potentially powerful explanations about political events. Rational choice theorists often assemble dizzyingly complex models of political behaviour replete with equations and mathematical appendices. But the explanatory work being done by the assumptions of self-interest and rationality is nevertheless easy to grasp. Why did government ministers cut taxes shortly before an election? The rational choice theorist will be at one with the cynical voter in suggesting that the government cut taxes in order to boost its own chances of re-election and did so in the belief that voters reward governments who can deliver the appearance of prosperity.