ABSTRACT
Continued emphasis on locational conflicts and institutions has led political geographers to analyse them from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives. The public choice approach, which focuses on rational behaviour in non-market decision contexts, is one such perspective. The public choice approach examines the implications of rational economic behaviour for the design, implementation, and operation of social choice institutions. This chapter describes and evaluates the application of the public choice perspective in contemporary political geography. A brief review of the public choice literature is followed by a more detailed survey of its recent applications to problems of interest in contemporary political geography. Finally, the validity and applicability of the approach to political geography is evaluated. Public choice theory has developed in response to recognition that public sector decision processes are not directly analogous to private market behaviour.
