Biographical Memoirs Volume 79 (2001) / Chapter Skim
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William Harrison Riker
William Harrison Riker
Pages 280-301
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a theoretical base for political analysis. This theoretical foundation, which he callecl "positive political theory," proved crucial in the clevelopment of political theories baser!
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Presaging his son's later prominence en c! intellectual rigor, Ben Riker himself became a highly influential book clearer.
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At a time when other political scientists were absorbed with descriptive case studies Bill was struggling with how to stucly politics more analytically.
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a new vein of literature that aciciressec! political processes in the language of mathematics, inclucIing the work of John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern, Duncan Black, Kenneth Arrow, en c!
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not as yet put together the pieces that wouic! later characterize positive political theory.
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In The Theory of Political Coalitions, Riker cleclucecl the size principle, introclucing the iclea of minimal winning coalitions in the stucly of electoral en cl legislative politics as an alternative to the view of vote maximization expressed in Downs ~ ~ 957)
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primarily by a desire to control resources, seek to attract just enough votes to win en cl no more, subject to variation above minimal winning size only because of uncertainty about the preferences of voters or their loyalty. By forming minimal winning coalitions politicians make as few concessions as possible, while still controlling sufficient support to maintain governmental authority en c!
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This is a crucial distinction because the rational actor in political arenas intentionally calculates how to achieve aims in a strategic environment with other strategically acting agents, making game theory the central analytic tool for mocleling political processes. When The Theory of Political Coalitions was publishecI, the book created a significant stir precisely because Riker not only exhorter!
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Immecliately upon his arrival in Rochester, Riker set about outlining a strategy for buckling the Rochester political science department. His strategy emphasized both behavioral methods en cl positive theory.
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In aciclition to his major contributions of original research cluring this period Riker sought to further establish his method through co-authorship with Peter Orcleshook of a textbook that eTuciciatec! the parameters of positive political theory.
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Researchers active in these early meetings incluclecl subsequent Nobelists Herbert Simon (economics en c! public administration, John Harsanyi (game theory)
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RESEARCH IN THE LATER YEARS At the time Bill became president of the American Political Science Association, his research interests were cir awn to the role political institutions and political campaigns play in shaping outcomes. His seminal work, Liberalism Against Populism (1982)
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Thus, Riker contrasted heresthetics with rhetoric. Whereas rhetoric involves persuasion, heresthetics involves strategic manipulation of the setting in which political outcomes are reached, it is in essence a strategy of rhetoric.
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As an individual his multidimensional creativity was apparent en cl permeated well beyond his specialization in the social sciences. He hacl a photographic memory, recalling precise details from newspaper articles from his childhoocl or specific paragraphs in books he hacl react 50 years earlier.
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Labour or Democrat en cl Republican. Most reaclers assume that Eliot, a relatively junior tutor in the college as much observer as participant in the unfoicling political drama en c!
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Bill Piker went deeper than most of us with the insight that behind the drama of politics is introspection, calculation, personal ambition, even hubris. This may not be powerful literary criticism, but it is first-rate political intuition.
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1999. The Rochester School: The origins of positive political theory.
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55:900-11. 1962 The Theory of Political Coalitions.
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Introduction to Positive Political Theory. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
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300 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS 1993 Agenda Formation. Ann Arbor: University of Mich 1996 igan Press.
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