Rational Choice Institutionalism
This school attempts to explain collective choices by rational actors. Outcomes are a product of the interaction between actor preferences and institutional rules.
Rational institutionalists also regard institutions as themselves being rationally chosen by actors who view the rules as facilitating the pursuit of their goals. For example, the institutional decision-making rules of the European Union are such that the largest states can structure political outcomes.
Read more about this topic: Institutionalism In International Relations
Famous quotes containing the words rational and/or choice:
“If we did not have rational souls, we would not be able to believe.”
—St. Augustine (354–430)
“Then did they strive with emulation who should repeat most wise maxims importing the necessity of suspicion in the choice of our friends—such as “mistrust is the mother of security,” with many more to the same effect.... But notwithstanding the esteem which they professed for suspicion, yet did they think proper to veil it under the name of caution.”
—Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)