Liberalism Against Populism: A Confrontation Between the Theory of Democracy and the Theory of Social Choice [Paperback]

William H. Riker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1988 | ISBN-10: 0881333670 | ISBN-13: 978-0881333671

The discoveries of social choice theory have undermined the simple and unrealistic 19th century notions of democracy, especially the expectation that electoral institutions smoothly translate popular will directly into public policy. One response to these discoveries is to reject democracy out of hand. Another, which is the program of this book, is to save democracy by formulating more realistic expectations. Hence, this book first summarizes social choice theory in order to explain the full force of its critique. Then it explains, in terms of social choice theory, how politics and public issues change and develop. Finally, it reconciles democratic ideals with this new understanding of politics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . . a persuasive theory of political change that one rarely encounters in the study of politics." -- Journal of Economic Literature

". . . a work of consequence . . . it will endure because it is almost certain to generate a significant debate about issues that go to the heart of both nomenclature and positive theorizing about politics." -- American Political Science Review

From the Publisher

Titles of related interest from Waveland Press: Abbott, Political Thought in America: Conversations and Debates, Fourth Edition (ISBN 9781577666271); Arnhart, Political Questions: Political Philosophy from Plato to Rawls, Third Edition (ISBN 9781577662631); and Levy, Political Thought in America: An Anthology, Second Edition (ISBN 9780881336887).

Product Details

• Paperback: 311 pages
• Publisher: Waveland Pr Inc (July 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881333670
• ISBN-13: 978-0881333671
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #668,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great introduction to public choice theory, November 12, 2002

By 

J. Bhattacharya (Los Altos, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Liberalism Against Populism: A Confrontation Between the Theory of Democracy and the Theory of Social Choice (Paperback)

Public choice theory is just full of interesting and counterintuitive results. It's most famous result, Arrow's impossibility theorem, says that democratic decision making over a fixed set of choices cannot be guaranteed to produce rational results--majorities might just prefer A to B, B to C, and also C to A. Furthermore, the only way to guarantee rational results is a dictatorship. These are truly strange results, which turn out to hold the keys to a deep understanding of democracy's mechanisms.

Riker's book explains clearly some of the most important results of social choice theory. Then, he patiently leads the reader to understand how these seemingly esoteric theories explain an incredible amount of the chaos of modern democratic politics.

Riker's discussion of importance of agenda setting is particularly illuminating. (Maybe his analysis is well known to political scientists, but I didn't know about it, and I found it really insightful). If the majority prefers A to B, and you strongly prefer B, what can you do in a democratic society? Riker shows that often, the answer is to change the subject--introduce a third option C which less popular than B, but more popular than A. By reframing the A vs. B choice in the context of C, you create a voting cycle where there was just a clear preference for A before. The result is democratic paralysis in which your least favorite choice, A, does not get implemented.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in better understanding democracy. The presentation can get a bit technical at times, but Riker rewards the readers' patience richly.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A modern classic, November 30, 1999

By 

Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard (Aarhus, Denmark) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Liberalism Against Populism: A Confrontation Between the Theory of Democracy and the Theory of Social Choice (Paperback)

Probably one of the most important books in political theory in the 20th century. An absolute modern classic! It should be on the bookshelves of every library and every political science student.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required reading, May 3, 2001

By 

"adam-nyc" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Liberalism Against Populism: A Confrontation Between the Theory of Democracy and the Theory of Social Choice (Paperback)

This is a terrific book. It provides a good introduction to social choice theory and the problems it raises for political theory. He explains things in a very direct way, with minimal math, and uses excellent examples. A couple chapters are kind of wordy and too philosophical, but the book is still great.