Political science and public choice: 1950-70

The early contributors to Public Choice did not fmd a sympathetic reception among political scientists. During the years 1950-70, political scientists were either indifferent to or hostile to the emerging field of rational ch oice in which the approach and tools of economics are applied to politics. In the essay that follows I attempt to explain this situation and why anoth er revolution - the behavioral - dominated political science for more than twenty years. Despite the prominence of rational choice in some political s cience journals, that dominance continues, a matter I hope to address in a subsequent article.