威廉·里克尔与实证政治理论

William H. Riker and Positive Political Theory

威廉·里克尔是二十世纪最重要的政治学者之一,他创立的"实证政治理论"带来了政治学研究方法的变革,他对于政治制度的实证研究引领着半个多世纪以来政治学研究的风向。实证政治学最重要的理论基石包括:理性人——个体做出理性决策;博弈论与策略行为——个人做出决策之前会考虑其他个体的行为。实证政治理论主要运用理性选择和博弈论的分析工具,讨论制度规则对决策结果的影响。以博弈论为基础的政治制度研究不仅为政治学注入"科学"的血液,也为解释中国政治制度变迁提供新的研究视角。

William H. Riker is one of the most important political scientists in the 20th Century .He has laid the basis for positive political theory which moved forward the revolution of political study methods,and he has opened new window on the approach of politi- cal studies.The most fundamental theoretical hypotheses of positive political theory include the following two aspects： rational individual and strategic behaviour.Positive political theory mainly explores institution how to effect collective decision.The study of political institu- tion based on game theory,provides new insights for understanding how political institutions work deeply.