Theoretical Basis for Political Rules : An Economic Perspective

This paper seeks to construct a model of government which will attract two sets of individuals: the altruistic (who seeks public service for the interest of the larger society) and the selfish (who seeks public service for the purpose of extracting rents for himself and members of group). When entry rules into politics are weakly defined and enforced, and those that define political competition for power suffer the same fate, the altruists will lose in the the contest for power and public good produced is, therefore, sub-optimal. Thus, strong theoretical arguments are marshalled in favour of enacting strong self-enforcing rules that act as checks on politicians before, during and after they have attained political power. Only a set of optimal rules will guarantee the appropriate quantity of public good required for economic growth and development of any given society. It is regarded as first-order condition for the success of economic policy reforms