EXPRESSIVE VOTING AND ELECTORAL EQUILIBRIUM

There are two rival accounts of rational voting in the public choice t radition: the mainstream instrumental account, that sees the vote as a revelation of preference over possible electoral outcomes, essentiall y analogous to a market choice; and the expressive account, that sees the vote as expressing support for one or other electoral options, rat her like cheering at a football match. This paper attempts to lay out some of the implications of the expressive account of voting for the i ssue of who votes as well as for the nature of political equilibrium, and to compare these implications with those derived from the instrume ntal account. We also identify and discuss the alternative views of th e domain of electoral politics associated with the instrumental and ex pressive accounts of voting, and sketch a route towards the integratio n of expressive and instrumental ideas in the analysis of rational ele ctoral politics.