An Economic Theory of Democracy

An Economic Theory of Democracy is the title of a 1957 monograph published by the American political and economic scientist Anthony Downs. A German -language edition was published in 1968 under the title "Economic Theory of Democracy." In the book, Downs developed based on economic assumptions explanation of the relationship between parties and voters in a democracy and the behavior of individuals in political elections. The work is the basis of the rational choice approach in the choice of research and as a classic of political theory.

Content

In the book " An Economic Theory of Democracy ," which Anthony Downs published his submitted at Stanford University dissertation in unaltered form, he developed based on ideas of Max Weber and Joseph Schumpeter -based economic principles conception of the political system in a democratic polity. In this sense he regarded parties as providers and voters as consumers of a market. This basic model, which he described in the first part of the book, based on the assumption that these two groups behave rationally and maximize their " utility incomes " aspire. Voters decide according to this premise in a political election for selecting the alternative from which they accept that they are most likely allow them to realize their own goals. Therefore crucial for voters to be allied to their benefit income reaching specified targets mainly economic and political nature as utility income of the parties Anthony Downs looks, however, the benefits they derive from the attainment of public office. In this regard, he defines winning elections as the only purpose intended by the parties, which is why they were not bound to any particular substantive programs, since they would only act as a means to an end.

In the second part of his work Downs talked about the importance of uncertainty in the decisions of the parties and voters. The voters are guided by in its opinion, especially on the "party ideology ", a representation of all political positions on a one-dimensional left-right scale, thereby saving information costs. The Parties shall decide, in his opinion for the position on this scale, which guarantees them maximum votes. Result is a convergence of the position of the parties in the political center. The third part of the book is devoted to the relationship between information costs and benefits income and the resulting consequences for the behavior of voters. In this regard Downs postulates that voters would only be willing to invest information costs, when her voice would play a role in the election. Since this is very unlikely voters were factual issues regarding the political " rational ignorant ". In addition, he assumes that the participation of individuals in elections could only be explained that these self- worth, would like to see a contribution to the maintenance of democracy in the voting.

Criticism

Have questioned the ideas outlined by Anthony Downs in "An Economic Theory of Democracy ," including his conception of political parties and the party system. This is particularly true for its emphasis on the importance of the entire electorate for the conduct of the parties instead of the influence of core voters with investors, the parties may specify comparable to certain acts within the meaning of investor interests.

Also, the non-consideration of influencing factors on voting behavior, arising from other theories of choice research has been criticized. This concerns, for example, party identification, evaluation of candidates by the voters as well as socio-structural factors justified. According to Jürgen Habermas also rational actors would, strictly speaking, no sufficient reasons to comply with the rules of democracy. The overall model of Anthony Downs, which consists of voters, political parties, governments, and the right to vote, in essence, has also been criticized as too simplistic.

Importance

Anthony Downs laid with the book "An Economic Theory of Democracy ," the basis for the rational choice approach to the explanation of voting behavior, in addition to the Angus Campbell and his colleagues Philip E. Converse, Warren E. Miller and Donald E. Stokes in her essay "The American Voter " substantiate Ann Arbor model and on Paul Felix Lazarsfeld's work "The People's Choice " declining micro-sociological school of thought with the three main streams of research is one choice. The book is therefore a classic of political theory as well as one of the most important publications on the theory of rational decision. The significance of the work arises from the fact that Anthony Downs theoretical and based on a few assumptions explanations for various already -known facts postulated, such as the tendency of party positions to the political center, low voter turnout and the low level of political interest of the voters. He also formulated a series of verifiable records that he derived from his theoretical considerations.