6533b826fe1ef96bd12839de

RESEARCH PRODUCT

From equilibrium to chaos and back : methodological evaluation of research of the majority rule

subject

description

According to the canonical model situated at the heart of the " economic " - or, as the political scientists prefer to call it, rational-choice - theory of (democratic) politics, whenever the matter to be decided raises, or consists of, at least two distinct issues, it is generally impossible to reach a determinate decision by using the majority rule. This problem, referred to as that of disequilibrium, equilibrium instability, or even"chaos", was first underplayed and then deemed ominous to the point of seriously undermining the development prospects of the whole theory. However, more recently, the concern it was the source o f until the 1980s has given way to a state of renewed confidence. What has allowed this to happen is only the construction of solution-yielding models, without the problem as formulated initially being really solved. This article purports to display the main lines of this theoretical reversal and to present a methodological interpretation of it in the light of recent developments in the philosophy of science - in particular the legitimacy now conceded to a research objective that consists in identifying the main mechanisms at work rather than in discovering universal empirical laws.