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S.M. Amadae
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BIOGRAPHY

Research Affiliate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Author of Prisoners of Reason and others. Her contributions to SAGE Publications’ Encyclopedia of Governance (2007) formed the basis of her contributions to Britannica.

Primary Contributions (2)
Rational choice theory, school of thought based on the assumption that individuals choose a course of action that is most in line with their personal preferences. Rational choice theory is used to model human decision making, especially in the context of microeconomics, where it helps economists…
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Publications (3)
Prisoners of Reason: Game Theory and Neoliberal Political Economy
Prisoners of Reason: Game Theory and Neoliberal Political Economy (February 2016)
By S. M. Amadae
Is capitalism inherently predatory? Must there be winners and losers? Is public interest outdated and free-riding rational? Is consumer choice the same as self-determination? Must bargainers abandon the no-harm principle? Prisoners of Reason recalls that classical liberal capitalism exalted the no-harm principle. Although imperfect and exclusionary, modern liberalism recognized individual human dignity alongside individuals' responsibility to respect others. Neoliberalism, by contrast, views life...
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Encyclopedia of Governance - 2 volume set
Encyclopedia of Governance - 2 volume set (December 2006)
The Encyclopedia of Governance provides a one-stop point of reference for the diverse and complex topics surrounding governance for the period between the collapse of the post-war consensus and the rise of neoliberal regimes in the 1970s. This comprehensive resource concentrates primarily on topics related to the changing nature and role of the state in recent times and the ways in which these roles have been conceptualized in the areas of Political Science, Public Administration, Political Economy,...
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Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy: The Cold War Origins of Rational Choice Liberalism
Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy: The Cold War Origins of Rational Choice Liberalism (October 2003)
By S.M. Amadae
In Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy, S. M. Amadae tells the remarkable story of how rational choice theory rose from obscurity to become the intellectual bulwark of capitalist democracy. Amadae roots Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy in the turbulent post-World War II era, showing how rational choice theory grew out of the RAND Corporation's efforts to develop a "science" of military and policy decisionmaking. But while the first generation of rational choice theorists—William Riker, Kenneth Arrow,...
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