The Political Entrepreneur and the Coordination of the Political Process: A Market Process Perspective of the Political Market

Abstract

The aim of this article is to apply the Austrian analysis of the entrepreneur to the political process. By distinguishing the political process from the economic process, we will endeavour to show to what extent an analysis in terms of the political market process is both possible and relevant. The existence of an information conveyance which can be assimilated to a price system within the political process, with its resulting profits, are motivating elements for the political entrepreneur. The political entrepreneur is doubly specialised and possesses all the Kirznerian functions of the Austrian entrepreneur as a coordinating agent for the political process. Any analysis of the political entrepreneur will thus necessarily and logically rest on the tools of the Austrian tradition. However, this implies a modification of the analysis of the political market which should not be seen in terms of efficiency or equilibrium, but in terms of process and of coordination. The issue is to highlight the coordinating role of the politician in the political process. There is a double purpose in the application of Austrian entrepreneurial theory to the political market. First, the Austrian tools will be tested for their stability in the context of a specific object. Secondly, the validity of the economic analysis of politics will be strengthened by the use of tools that are different from the original paradigm. Moreover, this approach fits into the current attempts to create an Austrian public economy. 1 Finally, to be creative, any such attempt must avoid returning to the question of the very existence of a political market or to opposing methods. 2