Public Choice,Pluralism,and Scarcity

Abstract

The presence of societal scarcity has modified the ability of pluralism and public choice to explain societal events and, in particular, bureaucratic behavior. Both pluralism and public choice are social science approaches that were developed during a period of societal growth and expansion. As a result, the basic tenets of both of these approaches assume societal growth. In the absence of such growth, the ability of each approach to explain societal events is decreased. The implications of this phenomenon for each approach's ability to explain bureaucratic behavior are discussed.