The Reason of Rules

　　Societies function on the basis of rules. These rules, ratherlike the rules of the road, coordinate the activities ofindividuals who have a variety of goals and purposes. Whether therules work well or ill, and how they can be made to work better, isa matter of major concern. Appropriately interpreted, the workingof social rules is also the central subject matter of modernpolitical economy. This book is about rules - what they are, howthey work, and how they can be properly analysed. The authors'objective is to understand the workings of alternative politicalinstitutions so that choices among such institutions (rules) can bemore fully informed. Thus, broadly defined, the methodology ofconstitutional political economy is the subject matter of TheReason of Rules. The authors have examined how rules for politicalorder work, how such rules might be chosen, and how normativecriteria for such choices might be established.