Principal-agent theory applied to accountability of political parties

Author(s):  A.Z. Zinnatullin, no, no, Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia, aidar.zinnatulla@gmail.com

Issue:  Volume 40, №22

Rubric:  Topical issues of political science

Annotation:  The article is devoted to the analysis of different aspects of principal-agent theory applied to poli-tics, in particular, to parties and politicians in electoral institutions. The aim of the paper is to identify peculiarities, advantages and shortcomings of this theoretical and methodological approach to different types of political processes. The major attention is given to the theoretical and empirical studies carried out by foreign political scientists. The author concludes that principal-agent theory is a quite flexible and useful instrument for studying political accounta-bility. Furthermore, it’s better to understand under the title «principal-agent theory» a «family of models» linked to one another with common perspective rather than comprehensive principal-agent theory with specific scope of as-sumptions and conclusions. Finally, the author concludes that using of principal-agent framework may be beneficial in analysis of political party’s accountability, both in cases of constituency-party relations and intraparty configura-tions between party leaders and its active members or supporters.

Keywords:  principal-agent theory, political accountability, political parties, elections, democracy

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DOI:  94(37)

Reference to article:  FrolovRM@yandex.ru