Hostname: page-component-599cfd5f84-9hh9z Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-07T07:34:28.946Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Stars to Steer By: The Political Impact of Moral Values*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Robert E. Goodin
Robert E. Goodin
Affiliation:
Philosophy, Australian National University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A contrast is often drawn between ethics and expediency in politics; however the contrast might be overdrawn. We can hold firmly to the classical notion that politicians should steer society according to some higher values, while retaining the notion of democratic accountability, just so long as electors see the same stars as political leaders do and are as keen to follow them. There are grounds for thinking that this may well be so, either for broadly utilitarian reasons or for basically idealistic ones.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , July 1989 , pp. 241 - 259
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Banfield, E. C. and Wilson, J. Q. (1964) Public regardingness as a value premise in voting behavior, American Political Science Review, 63, 876–87.Google Scholar
Barry, B. (1964) The public interest, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (Supplement), 38, 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barry, B. (1965) Political Argument. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Benn, S. I. (1979) The problematic rationality of political participation. In Laslett, P. and Fishkin, J. S. (eds), Philosophy, Politics and Society, 5th series. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Brennan, G. and Lomasky, L. (1983) Institutional aspects of ‘merit goods’ analysis, Finanzarchiv, 41, 183–206.Google Scholar
Burns, T. (1977) The BBC. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colm, G. (1956) Comments on Samuelson's theory of public finance. Review of Economics and Statistics, 38, 408–12.Google Scholar
Calm, G. (1960) In defense of the public interest. Social Research, 27, 295–307.Google Scholar
Culyer, A. J. (1971) Ment goods and the welfare economics of coercion. Public Finance, 26, 546–72.Google Scholar
Dahl, R. A. (1980) The Moscow discourse: fundamental rights in a democratic order, Government and Opposition, 15, 3–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downs, A. (1957) An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Dwórkin, G. (1970 Paternalism. In Wasserstrom, R. A. (ed.), Morality and the Law. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Dworkin, R. M. (1977) Taking Rights Seriously. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Dworkin, R. M. (1985) A Matter of Principle. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Elster, J. (1979) Ulysses and the Sirens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Elster, J. (1983) Sour Grapes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Etzioni, A. (1988) The Moral Dimension: Toward a New Economics. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Fiorina, M. P. (1981 Retrospective Voting in American National Elections. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Foot, P. (1978) Virtues and Vices. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Friedman, M. (1962) Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Goodin, R. E. (1982) Political Theory and Public Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Goodin, R. E. (1986) Laundering Preferences. In Elster, J. and Hylland, A. (eds), Foundations of Social Choice Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Goodin, R. E. (1988) Reasons for Welfare. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodin, R. E. (1989) The ethics of smoking, Ethics, 99, 574–624.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodin, R. E. and Grand, J. Le et al. (1987) Not Only the Poor: The Middle Classes and the Welfare State. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Goodin, R. E. and Roberts, K. W. S. (1975) The ethical voter. American Political Science Review, 69, 926–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, A., Jay, J. and Madison, J. (1788) The Federalist, ed. Middletown, J. Cooke, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1961.Google Scholar
Hardin, R. (1982) Collective Action. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harsanyi, J. C. (1977) Rational Behavior and Bargaining Equilibrium in Games and Social Situations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Head, J. G. (1974) Public Goods and Public Welfare. Durham, N. C.: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Hollis, M. (1977) Models of Man. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiewiet, D. R. (1983) Macroeconomics and Micropolitics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kinder, D. R. and Kiewiet, D. R. (1981) Sociotropic politics: the American case. British Journal of Political Science, 11, 129–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le, Grand J. (1982) The Strategy of Equality. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Maclntyre, A. (1981) After Virtue. Notre Dame, Ind.: Notre Dame University Press.Google Scholar
Maass, A. (1983) Congress and the Common Good. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Marglin, S. A. (1963) The social rate of discount and the optimal rate of investment, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 77, 95–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mill, J. S. (1848) Principles of Political Economy. London: Parker and Son.Google Scholar
Mill, J. S. (1863) Utilitarianism, London: Parker and Son.Google Scholar
Musgrave, R. A. (1957) A multiple theory of budget determination. Finanzarchiv, 17, 333–43.Google Scholar
Musgrave, R. A. (1958) Theory of Public Finance. New York: McGraw-Hill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Musgrave, R. A. (1968) Public expenditure. In Sills, D. L. (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. London: Collier-Macmillan.Google Scholar
Musgrave, R. A. (1969) Provision for social goods. In Margolis, J. and Guitton, H. (eds), Public Economics. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Musgrave, R. A. (1971) Provision for social goods in the market system, Public Finance, 26, 304–20.Google Scholar
Musgrave, R. A. (1987) Merit goods. In Eatwell, J., Milgate, M. and Newman, P. (eds), The New Palgrave. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Olson, M. Jr. (1965) The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J. (1971) A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J. (1982) Social unity and primary goods. In Sen, A. and Williams, B. (eds), Utilitarianism and Beyond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Reich, R. B., ed. (1988) The Power of Public Ideas. Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger.Google Scholar
Rohrschneider, R. (1988) Citizens' attitudes toward environmental issues: selfish or selfless? Comparative Political Studies, 21, 347–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothenberg, J. (1968) Consumer sovereignty. In Sills, D. L. (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. London: Collier-Macmillan.Google Scholar
Sagoff, M. (1988) The Economy of the Earth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Samuelson, P. A. (1954) The pure theory of public expenditure. Review of Economics and Statistics, 36, 387–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sax, E. (1924). The Valuation Theory of Taxation. In Musgrave, R. A. and Peacock, A. T. (eds) Classics in The Theory of Public Finance. London: Macmillan, 1967.Google Scholar
Schelling, T. C. (1984) Choice and Consequence. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O., Lau, R. R., Taylor, T. R. and Allen, H. M. Jr., (1980) Self-interest vs. symbolic politics in policy attitudes and Presidential voting, American Political Science Review, 74, 670–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seligman, E. R. A. (1926) The social theory of fiscal science. Political Science Quarterly, 41, 193–218 and 3 354–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. (1957) A note on Tinbergen on the optimal rate of saving. Economic Journal, 67, 745–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. (1977) Rational fools: a critique of the behavioral foundations of economic theory. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 6, 317–44.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (1979) Personal utilities and public judgments: or what's wrong with welfare economics? Economic Journal, 89, 537–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stigler, G. J. and Becker, G. S. (1977) De gustibus non est disputandum. American Economic Review, 67, 76–90.Google Scholar
Walsh, C. (1987) Individual irrationality and public policy: in search of merit/demerit policies. Journal of Public Policy, 7, 103–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar