Self-Interest and Public Interest in Western Politics

Is it self-interest or public interest that dominates Western politics? In this book which combines in a novel way insights from different fields including rational choice theory political philosophy and electoral research Leif Lewin examines more than two- hundred studies of democracy in action from seventeen countries. He looks at the behavior and attitudes of voters bureaucrats and politicians in turn and shows that the plausible and prevalent theory that egoism rules simply doesn''t match the facts. This intriguing study will be of special interest to students of comparative politics West European politics political science and economics.