Charlotte has been teaching secondary education for five years. She has a bachelor's degree in Secondary Education and a master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction.
Have you ever sat in a restaurant and attempted to choose between eating a pancake covered in fruit or savory bacon and eggs? You may begin making a pros and cons list about which breakfast option you should choose. You are considering the costs (sugar and cholesterol) versus the benefits (fruit and protein). Which breakfast might you vote for? Every person has different needs and interests when it comes to their breakfast foods, as well as with their political decisions.
The focus of individual self-interest, or what you do to benefit yourself the most, extends across a variety of different areas of study. From the economist Adam Smith to the political scientist Anthony Downs, the study of how self-interest relates to specific fields of research has been of upmost importance. Downs, the author of An Economic Theory of Democracy, developed the Rational-Choice Theory to explain how individuals participate in politics. The Rational-Choice Theory is widely used by political scientists to describe the idea that all people use rational thinking before making decisions. This theory assumes that individuals will act within their own self-interest, and that individuals consider both the costs and benefits of their different options (think of the pros and cons list from the breakfast scenario above). Citizens, elected officials and public employees all use their self-interest to make decisions in order to obtain a desired outcome.
Let's begin by focusing our attention on voter self-interest. According to Downs, voters want to increase the chances of their interests being implemented into public policy. Public Policies are all things that the government decides to do, whether it is making a law or a regulation that is created. If an individual strongly believes in one topic, then they will use their vote to choose a candidate, or political party, that most strongly sides with their views.
For example, let's say you live in the city of Urbansville where the state cut funding in developing a more efficient public transportation system. Since you take a bus to and from work every day, your interest in public transit has drastically increased. With an election for your local representative approaching, you feel a need to find a candidate that has similar views. Here you are using your personal interest in your bus route to find a candidate that can influence a public policy that will benefit you.
The Rational-Choice Theory also demonstrates how elected officials and political parties choose policies that appeal to voters. Under this theory, parties want to win positions in government so they choose policies that a large amount of voters appeal to in the hopes they will get members of their party elected.
Let's return to Urbansville and the political parties, Manatees and Antelopes, who have candidates running for office. The Manatees recently collected data showing that voters strongly support increased state funding for public transportation (a cause you strongly support). This data caused the Manatees to adopt this policy idea, and their candidate promoted this in their campaign. This demonstrates how the views of voters can influence officials and political parties to influence public policy.
Public employees, or bureaucrats, are the individuals in charge of making sure a policy is implemented, and they use their self-interest when executing public policies. Bureaucracy is the large administrative group that organizes the daily activities of government. This implementation causes confusion at times, because Congress often creates broad policies that have conflicting information. This allows for bureaucrats to use their personal views and self-interest in implementing the policies. At times, bureaucrats who may not like a policy that has been created, use their view to slow down the implementation process or create regulations that may contradict the policy.
Now at our final stop in Urbansville, the Manatees have been elected into office and pushed forward their policy requiring the state to fund the public transportation project you supported. The new law has moved to the Public Transportation Commission of Urbansville and needs to be implemented. The leader of the Commission, Annie, voted for the Antelopes and dislikes the policy as she feels it is a waste of taxpayer money. These actions result in funding and implementation for the new transit system to be extremely slow. This is an example of how bureaucracy and public employees also use their self-interest in the policy making process.
Now, let's review what we've learned. Self-interest is what you do to benefit yourself and has been studied by political scientists. Anthony Downs developed the Rational-Choice Theory that explains how people use rational thinking to make decisions by considering both the costs and benefits of their options. Voters, elected officials, and public employees all use self-interest in making political decisions.
Voters want their interests implemented into public policy (all the things the government decides to do). This occurs when voters choose to vote for political parties that best fit their views. Political parties choose elected officials and policies that appeal most to voters so they are able to get elected. Public employees, or bureaucrats, implement public policies. Bureaucrats are individuals in charge of making sure a policy is implemented, and they can use their personal views and self-interest when executing public policies. This large administrative group that organizes the activities of government is called the bureaucracy.
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