RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY AND THIRD-WORLD POLITICS - THE 1990 PARTY MERGER IN KOREA

Rational choice theory has been used almost exclusively as a tool to a nalyze political events in the West. Its applicability to the third wo rld has been pessimistically assessed due to cultural differences with the West. However, the party merger in Korea in 1990 shows that, desp ite cultural differences, there is a common set of goals and beliefs t hat may be generally assumed in analyses of political events in any co untry. There are ample regularities and events in the third world that can be meaningfully analyzed within the rational choice framework.