Monopolistic competition, auction and authorization: a Schumpeterian view of leadership and the political market

Journal article | Zeitschriftenartikel

"The market analogy of democracy played a central role in one of the leading versions of democratic theory in the last fifty years, in the so-called 'elite' or 'competitive' theory of democracy. In the present paper, 1 first clarify that the dominant school of the market analogy (Downs and his followers) turned its back on the approach of the originator of the analogy, Joseph Schumpeter. Schumpeter argued that both economic and political competition - due to the activity of entrepreneurs - are necessarily monopolistic and destroy equilibrium. Second, I show how followers of the Schumpeterian market analogy improved upon it by using the concept of natural monopolies and making it conform to the characteristics of politics, while further distancing themselves from Downsian interpretation and the dominant Public Choice approach. Finally, I demonstrate a normative implication of monopolistic competition, namely its consequences for the concept of 'agency loss'." (author's abstract)

Object Details

• Alternative title: Monopolistische Konkurrenz, Auktion und Autorisierung: eine Schumpetersche Analyse
• ISSN: 0172-6404
• Extent: Seite(n): 57-72
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Status: Veröffentlichungsversion; begutachtet (peer reviewed)

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Historical Social Research, 37(1)

Classification and Topics

• Subject: Wirtschaft ; Politikwissenschaft ; politische Willensbildung, politische Soziologie, politische Kultur ; Allgemeines, spezielle Theorien und Schulen, Methoden, Entwicklung und Geschichte der Wirtschaftswissenschaften ; Theorie ; historische Entwicklung ; vergleichende Politikwissenschaft ; Elite ; politische Elite ; Demokratie ; Wirtschaftselite ; Markt ; Schumpeter, J. ; Eliteforschung ; Gesellschaftstheorie ; Wettbewerb ; Monopol ; Politiker ; ökonomische Theorie ; Forschungsansatz ; Grundlagenforschung ; Theoriebildung

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Körösényi, András
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Deutschland
• (when): 2012

Further information

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.37.2012.1.57-72
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-373559
• Rights: GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften. Bibliothek Köln
• Last update: 21.06.2024, 4:26 PM CEST