Comparative Politics: The Principal-Agent Perspective

by Jan-Erik Lane

Starting from the principal-agent perspective, this book offers a new analysis of government. It interprets political institutions as devices designed to solve the omnipresent principal-agent game in politics. In other words how to select, instruct, monitor and evaluate political agents or elites so that they deliver in accordance with the needs and preferences of their the population. This book explores whether there are any evolutionary mechanisms in politics which guide mankind towards the rule of law regime, domestically and globally. It combines a cross-sectional approach with a longitudinal one. Comparing the extent of the rule of law among states, using a set of data from 150 countries concerning political and social variables, the author seeks to understand why there is such a marked difference among states. Taking a state-centred perspective and looking at countries with a population larger than one million people during the post Second World War period, the book Comparative Politics - The Principle-Agent Perspective will be of interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, government, political theory and law.

336 pages, Hardcover

First published September 20, 2007

About the author

Jan-Erik Lane has taught politics and economics at many universities around the world. He is member of many editorial boards of political science journals. He has published some 300 books and articles. In 1996 (and 2009) he received the Humboldt Award by the Humboldt Stiftung.

He has made contributions to the study of culture, N-person game theory (power indices), voter volatility, comparative democracy theory and the principal-agent approach to public administration.