Hiring and Firing Public Officials: Rethinking the Purpose of Elections
Hiring and Firing Public Officials: Rethinking the Purpose of Elections
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Cite
Abstract
Conventional theories of elections hold that an election is analogous to a consumer product market. According to the market paradigm, voters are consumers, candidates are competing firms, and an election is a market in which voters exchange votes for policy by voting for the candidates whose policies they prefer. According to this logic, a healthy democracy requires frequent competitive elections. The market analogy underlies decades of electoral theory, but this book contends that it does not capture the real nature of elections. In fact, our widespread dissatisfaction with the current state of electoral politics derives from a fundamental misunderstanding of what elections are and what purpose they serve. As the text shows, an election is a mechanism by which voters hire and fire public officials. It is not a consumer product market—it is a single employment decision. Thus, the health of democracy depends not on regular competitive elections, but on posing a credible threat to fire public officials who do not perform their jobs well. However, the purpose of that threat is to force public officials to act as faithful public servants so that they do not have to be fired. Thus, competitive elections, by most definitions, are indicative of a failure of the democratic system.
-
Front Matter
-
1
Elections and the Politics of Threats
-
2
What is Electoral Competition?
-
3
Elections as Employment Mechanisms
-
4
Market Competition
-
5
Electoral Actors in the Market and Employment Models
-
6
Competitive Elections in the Market and Employment Models
-
7
Competitive Behavior and Competitive Elections
-
8
Corruption and Competition
-
9
Policy Implications of the Market and Employment Models
-
10
Conclusion
-
End Matter
Sign in
Personal account
- Sign in with email/username & password
- Get email alerts
- Save searches
- Purchase content
- Activate your purchase/trial code
- Add your ORCID iD
Purchase
Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.
Purchasing informationMonth: | Total Views: |
---|---|
October 2022 | 2 |
October 2022 | 2 |
October 2022 | 2 |
October 2022 | 9 |
October 2022 | 1 |
October 2022 | 1 |
October 2022 | 1 |
October 2022 | 1 |
October 2022 | 6 |
October 2022 | 1 |
October 2022 | 1 |
October 2022 | 2 |
November 2022 | 1 |
November 2022 | 1 |
November 2022 | 2 |
November 2022 | 1 |
November 2022 | 11 |
December 2022 | 13 |
February 2023 | 2 |
February 2023 | 3 |
February 2023 | 6 |
February 2023 | 2 |
February 2023 | 2 |
February 2023 | 2 |
February 2023 | 3 |
February 2023 | 2 |
February 2023 | 2 |
February 2023 | 2 |
February 2023 | 1 |
March 2023 | 5 |
April 2023 | 2 |
April 2023 | 2 |
April 2023 | 2 |
April 2023 | 1 |
April 2023 | 1 |
April 2023 | 2 |
April 2023 | 2 |
May 2023 | 5 |
May 2023 | 1 |
June 2023 | 2 |
July 2023 | 1 |
July 2023 | 5 |
October 2023 | 4 |
October 2023 | 1 |
October 2023 | 1 |
November 2023 | 10 |
December 2023 | 12 |
December 2023 | 1 |
January 2024 | 6 |
February 2024 | 6 |
February 2024 | 1 |
March 2024 | 7 |
March 2024 | 1 |
March 2024 | 2 |
March 2024 | 1 |
April 2024 | 9 |
April 2024 | 1 |
May 2024 | 6 |
May 2024 | 1 |
May 2024 | 2 |
May 2024 | 2 |
June 2024 | 2 |
June 2024 | 2 |
June 2024 | 6 |
June 2024 | 1 |
June 2024 | 5 |
June 2024 | 1 |
June 2024 | 2 |
June 2024 | 2 |
June 2024 | 3 |
June 2024 | 1 |
June 2024 | 1 |
June 2024 | 2 |
June 2024 | 1 |
June 2024 | 2 |
June 2024 | 2 |
June 2024 | 1 |
July 2024 | 4 |
July 2024 | 5 |
July 2024 | 4 |
July 2024 | 2 |
July 2024 | 9 |
July 2024 | 2 |
July 2024 | 2 |
July 2024 | 2 |
July 2024 | 2 |
July 2024 | 4 |
July 2024 | 5 |
July 2024 | 3 |
August 2024 | 2 |
September 2024 | 4 |
September 2024 | 2 |
September 2024 | 2 |
October 2024 | 5 |
November 2024 | 14 |
December 2024 | 25 |
December 2024 | 1 |
December 2024 | 1 |
January 2025 | 8 |
January 2025 | 3 |
January 2025 | 2 |
February 2025 | 2 |
February 2025 | 2 |
February 2025 | 2 |
March 2025 | 4 |
May 2025 | 3 |
Get help with access
Institutional access
Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:
IP based access
Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.
Sign in through your institution
Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.
If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.
Sign in with a library card
Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.
Society Members
Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:
Sign in through society site
Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:
If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.
Sign in using a personal account
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.
Personal account
A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.
Viewing your signed in accounts
Click the account icon in the top right to:
Signed in but can't access content
Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.
Institutional account management
For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.