- Michael Oakeshott, <i>On Human Conduct</i>
- Axel Honneth, <i>The Struggle for Recognition</i>
- Jürgen Habermas, <i>Between Facts and Norms</i>: <i>Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy</i>
- Leo Strauss, <i>Natural Right and History</i>
- Judith Shklar, <i>Ordinary Vices</i>
- Jeremy Waldron, <i>Law and Disagreement</i>
- Robert Paul Wolff, <i>In Defense of Anarchism</i>
- Isaiah Berlin, <i>Four Essays on Liberty</i>
- Lon Fuller, <i>The Morality of Law</i>
- Carole Pateman, <i>The Sexual Contract</i>
- Charles Taylor, <i>Sources of the Self</i>
- Charles Beitz, <i>Political Theory and International Relations</i>
- Ronald Dworkin, <i>Taking Rights Seriously</i>
- Quentin Skinner, <i>The Foundations of Modern Political Thought</i>
- Hans-Georg Gadamer, <i>Truth and Method</i>
- Robert Nozick, <i>Anarchy, State, and Utopia</i>
- Hanna Pitkin, <i>The Concept of Representation</i>
- James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, <i>The Calculus of Consent</i>
- Michael Walzer, <i>Just and Unjust Wars</i>
- Michel Foucault, <i>Discipline and Punish</i>
- Robert Dahl, <i>A Preface to Democratic Theory</i>
- Simone de Beauvoir, <i>The Second Sex</i>
- Anthony Downs, <i>An Economic Theory of Democracy</i>
- H. L. A. Hart, <i>The Concept of Law</i>
- James Scott, <i>Seeing Like a State</i>
- Will Kymlicka, <i>Multicultural Citizenship</i>
- John Rawls, <i>Political Liberalism</i>
- Bonnie Honig, <i>Political Theory and the Displacement of Politics</i>
- Richard Tuck, <i>Natural Rights Theories</i>
- Sheldon Wolin, <i>Politics and Vision</i>
- C. B. Macpherson, <i>The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke</i>
- Steven Lukes, <i>Power: A Radical View</i>
- Michael Walzer, <i>Spheres of Justice</i>
- Herbert Marcuse, <i>One-Dimensional Man</i>
- Susan Moller Okin, <i>Justice, Gender, and the Family</i>
- Jon Elster, <i>Sour Grapes</i>
- Alasdair MacIntyre, <i>After Virtue</i>: An Study in Moral Theory
- Joseph Raz, <i>The Morality of Freedom</i>
- Frantz Fanon, <i>The Wretched of the Earth</i>
- Paul Gilroy, <i>The Black Atlantic</i>
- G. A. Cohen, <i>Karl Marx’s Theory of History—A Defence</i>
- J. G. A. Pocock, <i>The Machiavellian Moment</i>
- Judith Butler, <i>Gender Trouble</i>
- Phillip Pettit, <i>Republicanism</i>: A Theory of Freedom and Government
- Elinor Ostrom, <i>Governing the Commons</i>
Abstract and Keywords
The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy is a groundbreaking work in democratic theory. This chapter argues that it is of continued relevance today, due both to its methodological innovations and its use of those innovative techniques to solve the fundamental problem of democratic justification. In Calculus, James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock fuse economic methods, political theory, and the normative project of showing how democratic institutions of a particular sort can be justified contractually, creating a unique form of democratic contractualism that came to be known as “Constitutional Political Economy” and the more general research program of “Public Choice Theory.” Although these pioneering techniques have been integrated into mainstream political theory, the interest of their normative project has not been similarly appreciated.
Keywords: James Buchanan, Gordon Tullock, contractualism, democratic theory, constitutional political economy, public choice theory
John Thrasher, Monash University
Gerald Gaus is the James E. Rogers Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona.
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- Michael Oakeshott, <i>On Human Conduct</i>
- Axel Honneth, <i>The Struggle for Recognition</i>
- Jürgen Habermas, <i>Between Facts and Norms</i>: <i>Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy</i>
- Leo Strauss, <i>Natural Right and History</i>
- Judith Shklar, <i>Ordinary Vices</i>
- Jeremy Waldron, <i>Law and Disagreement</i>
- Robert Paul Wolff, <i>In Defense of Anarchism</i>
- Isaiah Berlin, <i>Four Essays on Liberty</i>
- Lon Fuller, <i>The Morality of Law</i>
- Carole Pateman, <i>The Sexual Contract</i>
- Charles Taylor, <i>Sources of the Self</i>
- Charles Beitz, <i>Political Theory and International Relations</i>
- Ronald Dworkin, <i>Taking Rights Seriously</i>
- Quentin Skinner, <i>The Foundations of Modern Political Thought</i>
- Hans-Georg Gadamer, <i>Truth and Method</i>
- Robert Nozick, <i>Anarchy, State, and Utopia</i>
- Hanna Pitkin, <i>The Concept of Representation</i>
- James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, <i>The Calculus of Consent</i>
- Michael Walzer, <i>Just and Unjust Wars</i>
- Michel Foucault, <i>Discipline and Punish</i>
- Robert Dahl, <i>A Preface to Democratic Theory</i>
- Simone de Beauvoir, <i>The Second Sex</i>
- Anthony Downs, <i>An Economic Theory of Democracy</i>
- H. L. A. Hart, <i>The Concept of Law</i>
- James Scott, <i>Seeing Like a State</i>
- Will Kymlicka, <i>Multicultural Citizenship</i>
- John Rawls, <i>Political Liberalism</i>
- Bonnie Honig, <i>Political Theory and the Displacement of Politics</i>
- Richard Tuck, <i>Natural Rights Theories</i>
- Sheldon Wolin, <i>Politics and Vision</i>
- C. B. Macpherson, <i>The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke</i>
- Steven Lukes, <i>Power: A Radical View</i>
- Michael Walzer, <i>Spheres of Justice</i>
- Herbert Marcuse, <i>One-Dimensional Man</i>
- Susan Moller Okin, <i>Justice, Gender, and the Family</i>
- Jon Elster, <i>Sour Grapes</i>
- Alasdair MacIntyre, <i>After Virtue</i>: An Study in Moral Theory
- Joseph Raz, <i>The Morality of Freedom</i>
- Frantz Fanon, <i>The Wretched of the Earth</i>
- Paul Gilroy, <i>The Black Atlantic</i>
- G. A. Cohen, <i>Karl Marx’s Theory of History—A Defence</i>
- J. G. A. Pocock, <i>The Machiavellian Moment</i>
- Judith Butler, <i>Gender Trouble</i>
- Phillip Pettit, <i>Republicanism</i>: A Theory of Freedom and Government
- Elinor Ostrom, <i>Governing the Commons</i>