ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the authors propose a slightly different interpretation of the rise of rational choice approaches after World War II. It is a fairly common view that the rise of "rational choice" in political science is the primary manifestation of the imperialism of economics. The authors aim to establish that decision-making became important both in economics and in political science, and served as the central concept around which economic analyses of political phenomena were developed. The authors also aim to complement the internalist account with an externalist perspective that points at the joint transformation of these disciplines in response to important cultural and political transformations. Rational choice represented a new normative framework of politics and a new form of constitutionalism adapted to the contingencies of the Cold War. The main problem for Cold War constitutionalism was not so much to come up with new political solutions, but essentially to justify existing political practices through a new normative framework.