The logic of political survival
By: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita ... [et al.]
Contributors: Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, 1946-
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 536
Subjects: Heads of state -- Succession; Heads of state -- Term of office; Political planning
Description: "The authors construct a provocative theory on the selection of leaders and present specific formal models from which their central claims can be deduced. They show how political leaders allocate resources and how institutions for selecting leaders create incentives for leaders to pursue good and bad public policy. They also extend the model to explain the consequences of war on political survival. Throughout the book, they provide illustrations from history, ranging from ancient Sparta to Vichy France, and test the model against statistics gathered from cross-national data. The authors explain the political intuition underlying their theory in nontechnical language, reserving formal proofs for chapter appendixes. They conclude by presenting policy prescriptions based on what has been demonstrated theoretically and empirically."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p, [487]-518) and index