Political Competition: Theory and Applications
Roemer characterizes--correctly--the traditional Downsian model of political competition as one modeling competition between "opportunistic politicians" who themselves have no policy preferences and who choose instead to adopt positions that appeal to the preferences of the optimum number of voters. This, he says, is a misguided model, easy to use but empirically and theoretically inaccurate and producing meaningless results. He offers instead a more complex model...based on "parties in conflict," which have real policy preferences. Well written...[A] fine contribution to the literature on spatial modeling. (M. BerheideChoice2002-01-01)