INTRODUCTION

The discussion of the rational foundations of democratic politics includes at least two senses in which democracy can be seen as binding individual agents, and these two senses pick out two aspects of democracy: an institutional aspect and a more human aspect. The institutional aspect focuses on the procedures, rules, and institutions that in one sense constitute democratic politics and which might be seen as binding, constraining, or otherwise structuring the political activity of individuals. The more human aspect focuses on the individuals who live in democratic societies, are bound together into a polity, and must make democracy work. Furthermore, the institutional aspect of democracy highlights one view of economic analysis, by emphasizing the analysis of rational individual responses to democratic institutions and rules, in much the same way as we might analyze individual responses to relative prices. However, the more human aspect of democracy highlights a different economic perspective, by emphasizing the analysis of individuals committing to a common enterprise that offers both intrinsic and instrumental rewards. Very often the former, institutional aspect dominates the economic discussion of democracy to the exclusion of the latter, human aspect – so much so that we often focus on the analysis of narrowly self-interested individuals in democratic settings without asking ourselves whether individuals of that sort have the resources to operate a fully democratic society.