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CIAO DATE: 03/02
Critical Review
Idealizing Politics
By James Q. Wilson
Abstract
Donald A. Wittman's Myth of Democratic Failure attempts to show that government is more rational than is often believed. For instance, Wittman argues that voters are tolerably well informed and that politicians are responsive to voters' will. Unfortunately, Wittman's argument proceeds at the level of economic theory, which is often contradicted by empirical reality (and by non-economic theories that take account of political reality). It is no better to defend democracy on a priori grounds, as Wittman does, than to attack it on those grounds, as other economists who turn to the analysis of politics tend to do.