Homo Politicus – Towards a Theory of Political Action and Motivation
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Zsolt Boda
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to sketch an anthropology for political studies. Political science relies extensively on behavioral models borrowed from economics (taking human action to be rational and self-interested), sociology (explaining behavior in terms of norm-abidance and conformity), or even psychology (seeing actors as being motivated by their emotions, neurosis etc.). Strikingly, political science has not endeavored to develop an anthropology for its own purposes. Does it mean that there are no motivational structures that are distinctively relevant to political action? The paper argues that this is not the case. In fact, there is a distinctive conception of a human actor present in political science, even if implicitly, i.e., the conception of an actor who aims at what she perceives to be the common good, and guides her behavior along the lines of collective rationality. The paper aims at providing the first steps towards laying the theoretical and empirical foundations of such a model.
©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Article
- The Production of Institutional Facts in Economic Discourse
- Different Paths of Transitional Justice in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland
- Homo Politicus – Towards a Theory of Political Action and Motivation
- Global Victimhood: On the Charisma of the Victim in Transitional Justice Processes
- Intervention and Promotion of Democracy. The Paradoxes of External Democratization and the Power-Sharing Between International Officials and Local Political Leaders
- Foreign Impacts Revisited: Islamists’ Struggles in Post-War Iraq
- Concentration of Decision-Making Power: Investigating the Role of the Norwegian Cabinet Subcommittee
- Referendum: A Complement or a Threat to Representative Democracy?
- MKs Usage of Personal Internet Tools, 2009: On the verge of a New Decade
- Ten Years of European Impact Assessment: How It Works, for What and for Whom
- Political Parties and Pension Generosity in Times of Permanent Austerity
- The Electoral Consequences of Welfare State Reforms for the Danish Social Democrats
- Electoral Competition and the Constituent-Representative Relationship
- Austria Inc. Forever? On the Stability of a Coordinated Corporate Network in Times of Privatization and Internationalization
- Development of Health Care in Lithuania and Estonia: Similar Conditions, Different Results
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Article
- The Production of Institutional Facts in Economic Discourse
- Different Paths of Transitional Justice in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland
- Homo Politicus – Towards a Theory of Political Action and Motivation
- Global Victimhood: On the Charisma of the Victim in Transitional Justice Processes
- Intervention and Promotion of Democracy. The Paradoxes of External Democratization and the Power-Sharing Between International Officials and Local Political Leaders
- Foreign Impacts Revisited: Islamists’ Struggles in Post-War Iraq
- Concentration of Decision-Making Power: Investigating the Role of the Norwegian Cabinet Subcommittee
- Referendum: A Complement or a Threat to Representative Democracy?
- MKs Usage of Personal Internet Tools, 2009: On the verge of a New Decade
- Ten Years of European Impact Assessment: How It Works, for What and for Whom
- Political Parties and Pension Generosity in Times of Permanent Austerity
- The Electoral Consequences of Welfare State Reforms for the Danish Social Democrats
- Electoral Competition and the Constituent-Representative Relationship
- Austria Inc. Forever? On the Stability of a Coordinated Corporate Network in Times of Privatization and Internationalization
- Development of Health Care in Lithuania and Estonia: Similar Conditions, Different Results
