An Economic Theory of Democracy

In An Economic Theory of Democracy (1957), Anthony Downs proposed that political life could be understood through voter self-interest. Downs argued that in democracies, the distribution of political opinions forms a bell curve, pushing political parties toward centrist positions to appeal to the majority of moderate voters. This work is a key example of rational choice theory in political science, which assumes actors pursue their interests rationally. While influential, rational choice theory has faced criticism for potentially ignoring cultural contexts and for its claims of universal applicability.1