RATIONALITY IN POLITICS

. This essay examines current decision-making procedures in politics, especially those employed in parliamentary procedure, with a view to determining the extent to which they contribute to the making of rational political decisions. It concludes that political decision-making procedures are, on the whole, inferior to court-trial procedures, and proceeds to exploit this conclusion by describing a new method of political decision-making based on the concept of a political jury. This method, it is claimed, is more likely than present methods to produce sound legislation.