Political Science

Political science is best defined in comparison to political philosophy: one attempts to understand politics from first principles, reasoned outward, in a coherent and consistent theory; the other attempts to understand politics from observations and theories of what explains the variance therein. This page addresses the latter.

Public Choice and Social Choice Theory

Public choice and social choice are highly interconnected. In general, public choice seeks to be strictly positive, while social choice leans into philosophy and normative study. Like, 'given a voting system, which agent has most control' vs. 'what is the most fair voting system'. But the theorists fundamentally speak the same language, and it's more coherent to group them together by field of study.

• Institutional Design

• Pivotal Politics Model

Political Economy

• CAGE Distance Framework

• Outbidding

• Wilson-Lowi Matrix

International Relations

• Bargaining Model of War

• Constructivism

• Institutionalism

• Rationalism

• Realism

Comparative Politics

• Democratization

• International Development

• resources for Comparative Politics on this wiki:

  • listings of states and city-states

  • listings of empires (including de facto empires)

Reading Notes

Note: reading notes for the above topics are listed on the respective pages, not here.

• Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, William L. Riordon, 1905

• England in the Age of the American Revolution, Lewis Namier, 1931

• An Economic Theory of Democracy, Anthony Downs, 1957

• Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City, Robert Dahl, 1961

• The Calculus of Consent, James M. Buchanon and Gordon Tullock, 1962

• The Theory of Political Coalitions, William H. Riker, 1962

• Congressmen in Committees, Richard F. Fenno, Jr., 1973

• Congress: The Electoral Connection, David R. Mayhew, 1974

• Hard and Soft Law in International Governance, Kenneth Abbott and Duncan Snidal, 2000

• The Limits of Party: Congress and Lawmaking in a Polarized Era, James M. Curry and Frances E. Lee, 2020

• City Diplomacy: From City-States to Global Cities, Raffaele Marchetti, 2021

• Is It the Message or the Messenger? Examining Movement in Immigration Beliefs, Hassan Afrouzi, Carolina Arteaga, and Emily Weisburst, 2024

• Economic Sanctions as a Foreign Policy Tool, Michael Klein and Daniel W. Drezner, 2024

• A Case for Congress: Shared Power for a Divided Society, Frances E. Lee, 2024

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