Aggregation, Evaluation, and Social Choice Theory
We argue that political theory, regardless of whether it is "positive" or "normative" in nature, is structured and unified by social choice theory. We point out that the central conclusions of social choice theory are context free and thus apply to any aggregation of multiple factors. The generality of the basic framework of social choice theory implies its results are relevant to any consideration of trade offs and, because any interesting theory must deal with a situation in which there are at least two plausible predictions or prescriptions, these results unify all interesting theories of politics.