ABSTRACT
This chapter shows why those using the rational choice approach have had so much success constructing theories of democratic politics. It also shows which parts of the theoretical literature can be most easily and fruitfully adapted to context of politics in developing and newly democratic countries. The first-order preferences, or goals, commonly used in rational choice arguments are extremely simple and, are relatively stable. The claim that rational choice theories ignore history and context is true to the same degree that it is true about all theories. The rational choice model, that is, the deductive logic that connects the choice of means to preexisting goals, is deterministic. The most useful way to think of rational choice arguments is as if-then statements of the form: if factors have the goals the observer claims, if the information and calculation requirements are plausible, and if the actors actually face the rules and payoffs the observer claims they do, then certain behavior will occur.
