“russell hardin”

"Russell Hardin shows us the need to face the consequences of indeterminacy. Maximization of independent variables is impossible, standard decision theory is unreal (as is Rawls's theory of justice), and there are no easy answers--though 'ordinary people manage to get through life most of the time.'... More

Can we trust our elected representatives or is public life so corrupted that we can no longer rely on governments to protect our interests or even our civil liberties? Is the current mood of public distrust justified or do we need to re-evaluate our understanding of trust in the global age? In this... More

Is there a public good? A prevalent view in political science is that democracy is unavoidably chaotic, arbitrary, meaningless, and impossible. Such scepticism began with Condorcet in the eighteenth century, and continued most notably with Arrow and Riker in the twentieth century. In this powerful b... More

"Russell Hardin develops a nice counterblast to those who think ethnic conflicts are somehow primordial and irrational. His is an excellent demonstration of what happens when rational choice runs wild in group conflict."--John Dryzek, University of OregonIn a book that challenges the most widely hel... More

This provocative, lucidly written reconstruction of utilitarianism focuses on the practical constraints involved in ethical choice: information may be inadequate, and understanding of causes and effects may be limited. Good decision making may be especially constrained if other people are closely in... More

Set mostly in New York with a dense background of European culture, this enlightening story of musical passion documents the coming-of-age of pianist Dmitri Esterhaats as he develops from precocious adolescent to professional virtuoso. Esterhaats' gradual mastery of each new piece, from Bach to Bart... More

How is a sense of belonging to a political community created? Rogers Smith suggests that Stories of Peoplehood, narratives which include racial, religious, ethnic and cultural elements, serve to make membership of a political group part of an individual's identity. He argues that competition over ac... More