J. M. Buchanan’s contractarian constitutionalism: political economy for democratic society

Viktor J. Vanberg ()
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Viktor J. Vanberg: Walter Eucken Institut

Public Choice, 2020, vol. 183, issue 3, No 8, 339-370

Abstract: Abstract The purpose of this paper is to support three claims. Firstly, that it is Buchanan’s uncompromising commitment to a methodological and a normative individualism to which his lifework owes its coherence and internal consistency. Secondly, that a principal motivating force behind his life-long research efforts has been the aim of inquiring into how the citizen-members of a democratic polity may govern themselves in mutually beneficial ways. And, thirdly, that his contractarian constitutionalism provides a paradigmatic alternative to received outlooks of liberalism, welfare economics, and democratic theory.

Keywords: Constitutionalism; Contractarianism; Democracy; Individualism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 D86 E61 H11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11127-020-00795-5

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