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Exogenous Voter Preferences and Parties with State Power: Some Internal Problems of Economic Theories of Party Competition

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  • Dunleavy, Patrick
  • Ward, Hugh
Abstract
This paper deals with the theories of electoral or party competition in liberal democracies which have been put forward in ‘economic’ models of democracy by Downs, Riker and Ordeshook, Robertson and others. There can be few doubts about the growing importance or appeal of these models, especially for North American political science. Barry, for example, argues that ‘we have seen the last of the “sociologists” in political science’, while in contrast the economic approach has ‘flourished quantitatively and qualitatively’. Barry attributes this change-round since the early 1960s to political scientists' penetration of sociologists' ‘characteristically sloppy logic and flabby prose to discover the deeper problems of circularity and vacuousness inherent in the approach’. In contrast, economic models have claimed the mantle of strictly developed deductive theory and displayed remarkable elusiveness as objects of criticism. Most attacks have been represented as irrelevant by appealing to the Friedmanite epistemology which denies any significance to the descriptive ‘realism’ of a deductive theory's assumptions. As Downs argued: ‘Theoretical models should be tested by the accuracy of their predictions rather than by the reality of their assumptions’. That such a naive verificationism cannot discriminate between the (potentially large) range of non-falsified explanations has not impeded economic models' progress, largely because a similar position is espoused in almost all competing ‘mainstream’ electoral analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Dunleavy, Patrick & Ward, Hugh, 1981. "Exogenous Voter Preferences and Parties with State Power: Some Internal Problems of Economic Theories of Party Competition," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(3), pages 351-380, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:bjposi:v:11:y:1981:i:03:p:351-380_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Carlsson, Magnus & Dahl, Gordon B. & Rooth, Dan-Olof, 2016. "Do Politicians Change Public Attitudes?," IZA Discussion Papers 10349, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. George Boyne, 1987. "Median voters, political systems and public policies: An empirical test," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 201-219, January.
    3. Matthew Gabel & Simon Hix, 2005. "Understanding Public Support for British Membership of the Single Currency," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 53(1), pages 65-81, March.
    4. Rune Stubager, 2003. "Preference‐shaping: an Empirical Test," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 51(2), pages 241-261, June.
    5. Karol Fjalkowski, 2014. "Politicians and social leaders. Introducing a model of mutual relations and shaping beliefs of voters," Ekonomia i Prawo, Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika, vol. 13(3), pages 359-375, September.
    6. Magnus Carlsson & Gordon B. Dahl & Dan-Olof Rooth, 2018. "Backlash in Attitudes After the Election of Extreme Political Parties," CESifo Working Paper Series 7210, CESifo.
    7. Magnus Carlsson & Gordon B. Dahl & Dan-Olof Rooth, 2015. "Backlash in Policy Attitudes After the Election of Extreme Political Parties," NBER Working Papers 21062, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Jennifer Van Heerde & David Hudson, 2010. "‘The Righteous Considereth the Cause of the Poor’? Public Attitudes towards Poverty in Developing Countries," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58(3), pages 389-409, June.
    9. D Austen-Smith, 1983. "The Spatial Theory of Electoral Competition: Instability, Institutions, and Information," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 1(4), pages 439-460, December.
    10. Jane Green, 2007. "When Voters and Parties Agree: Valence Issues and Party Competition," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 55(3), pages 629-655, October.
    11. Stefano Bartolini, 2000. "Collusion, Competition and Democracy," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 12(1), pages 33-65, January.
    12. Carlsson, Magnus & Dahl, Gordon B. & Rooth, Dan-Olof, 2021. "Backlash in policy attitudes after the election of an extreme political party," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).

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