Rational Choice Arguments Research Articles

The Persistence of Islamist Political Parties in Bangladesh: A Rational Choice Argument

In 1971, the new country of Bangladesh was carved into the world political map. The country’s first government identified it as a secular nation primarily due to the religious identity averred by the Pakistani state apparatus, its former oppressor. Over half a century after its independence, the country has seen a considerable impact of religion in politics, with many academic publications on Islamist movements and politics since the early 2000s. A conspicuous gap in this literature is the lack of focus on Islamist political parties, even though all Islamist political movements emerged from within those parties. This paper argues that the continued existence of Islamist parties is due to two specific factors: institutional change and large madrasa networks. This paper adopts a ‘rational choice’ approach to investigate these two factors critically.

Power, Interest and Insecurity: A Comparative Analysis of Workplace Dualization and Inclusion in Europe

In Europe’s ‘age of dualisation’, interest groups are key to contemporary political economy theory of insider-outsider divides, where only strategic, rational choice might explain a shift to inclusive representation. Yet, a recent and growing body of case studies argues that power dynamics shape preferences, strategies and, ultimately, workplace inequalities. This paper draws on theoretical developments to examine these competing hypotheses. In particular, it seeks to identify the conditions under which workplace-level representation moderates or reinforces subjective insecurity gaps between stable and atypical employment. Through an explanatory sequential mixed methodology, multi-level logistic regression using survey data maps out the set of EU28 political economies while a qualitative section compares two cases in depth. Overall, the findings reveal country clusters that support the power-based thesis, based on institutional and ideational resources, and run counter the rational choice argument. Integrated into the ‘vicious circle’ concept, adverse conditions specify endogenous relationships at a certain threshold, but can be disqualified as sine qua non catalysers. The paper therefore contributes to the ‘varieties of workplace dualisation’ literature, connecting the angle of employment relations with political economy research on inequalities.

Capacity and Adequacy: Explicating Voting Behavior in A Multilevel and Concurrent Local Election

This qualitative case study explores voting behavior in a multilevel (municipality and province) and concurrent local election in the Municipality of Malang. Previous researches on concurrent local election in Indonesia revealed a number of relevant factors elucidating voters’ choices, namely vote-buying (Fossati et al., 2016), social identity (Kristianus, 2016), intensity of meeting with candidates (Ramadhany, 2017), and the blater character of incumbent (friendly and close to commoners) (Sobari, 2018). The study extends previous findings through exposure to voting behavior that the capacity to vote and the adequacy of information about candidates are two converging factors explaining similarities and differences in the considerations for voting. The capacity demonstrates ability in making electoral decision, mainly referring to rational choice arguments. It is supported by the adequacy of information about the profile of candidates for mayors and governors along with their proposed vision, missions and programs. On the contrary, the lack of knowledge about candidates' profiles and their platforms contribute to the emergence of trivial voters who simply exercised their voting rights (alakadarnya) or without adequate consideration, especially in selecting candidates for governor. Furthermore, this research echoes Mondak and Huckfeldt’s study (2006) that information about candidate’s integrity is a rational argument for electoral decision, especially in the 2018 Local Election of Malang. Key words: local election, multilevel and concurrent, integrity, malang, indonesia.

POLICING THROUGH SUBSIDIZED FIREPOWER: AN ASSESSMENT OF RATIONAL CHOICE AND MINORITY THREAT EXPLANATIONS OF POLICE PARTICIPATION IN THE 1033 PROGRAM*

AbstractThere is a popular belief that the use of military equipment can improve police efforts at social control. Recent protests and riots across the country, however, have piqued public concern about racial disparities in law enforcement and the acquisition and use of military equipment by police in the United States. By using data from the Department of Defense's 1033 Program, we conduct an agency‐level analysis to assess the validity of rational choice arguments and minority threat explanations of police participation in the 1033 Program. Our results reveal that higher violent crime rates and lower drug arrest rates increase law enforcement participation in the 1033 Program. Participation in the 1033 Program, however, is also a function of minority threat, with the functional form of minority threat varying across models predicting 1033 participation and the value of materiel acquired by successful departments. Specifically, a curvilinear relationship exists between the relative size of the Black population and involvement in the 1033 Program, and an exponential relationship between the relative size of the Black and Hispanic populations and the value of property departments receive annually from the 1033 Program.

Voting Advice Applications and their effect on voter turnout: the case of the German Wahl-O-Mat

In many states, Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) have become an almost indispensable element within electoral campaigns. Many of these tools are part of civic education projects which are supposed to mobilise voters to go to elections. This paper discusses whether VAAs meet this expectation. Out of a theoretical perspective which combines rational choice arguments with the issue–orientation of voters, the paper makes it plausible why VAAs should have such an impact. The empirical test focuses on the German VAA - the Wahl–O–Mat - before the German Federal Election in 2009, drawing on an online–generated dataset provided by the German Longitudinal Election Study which in large is representative for the German online community. The multivariate analyses indicate that, controlled for the relevant variables, using the Wahl–O–Mat indeed had a significant positive effect on the intention to vote.

Labour protests in Egypt: causes and meanings

Egypt has experienced a wave of unprecedented labour protests since December 2006. Refuting moral economy and rational choice arguments as a basis for understanding labour unrest in Egypt, this paper argues that this wave of protests is an outcome of the rupture of the hegemonic ruling pact governing Egypt since 1952. As such, this movement, which includes both industrial workers as well as white-collar state employees, should be interpreted beyond its immediate material demands. Rather, the paper argues, the changing constituency, tactics, and internal organisation of the movement all point to the potential role that it can play in further eroding the corporatist–authoritarian structure governing state-society relations in Egypt. The paper concludes that this movement might be carrying the potential for wider democratisation.

The Politics of Industrial Injury Rates in the United States

Conventional approaches to variations in occupational injury rates in the United States rest for the most part on neoclassical and rational-choice assumptions that obscure the fact that injury rates are political phenomena. This paper develops an alternative model that explains injury rates in the context of the politics of capital relocation and state-accumulation strategies. It produces statistical evidence that the frequency of reported injury cases and the proportion of work time lost to injury are lowest in states, especially in the South, where the industrial rate of exploitation is highest, where welfare state provision is least adequate, where the choice of case physician is legally placed in the hands of the employer or the state rather than the injured worker, and where the percentage of African-Americans in the state population is high. A compensation payment variable usually associated with rational-choice arguments also appears in these explanations, but the statistical results are not obviously inconsistent with the alternative theoretical approach. If rational individual calculation plays a role in either the frequency of injury cases or the proportion of work time lost, it does so within clear class, race and state policy constraints.

The Contribution of Rational Choice Theory to Macrosociological Research

Because it consists of an entire family of specific theories derived from the same first principles, rational choice offers one approach to generate explanations that provide for micro-macro links, and to attack a wide variety of empirical problems in macrosociology. The aims of this paper are (I) to provide a bare skeleton of all rational choice arguments; (2) to demonstrate their applicability to a range of macrosociological concerns by reviewing a sample of both new and classic works; and (3) to discuss the weaknesses of current rational choice theory and the possibilities for its future development.