Books by Jon (Columbia University Elster

This book examines the problems and issues facing formerly communist states as they seek to develop a new democratic political order and a market economy.

Jon Elster delves into what binds societies together and prevents them from disintegrating into chaos and war and examines the perspective of rational-choice theory and the theory of social norms. This book will be of particular interest to political scientists, political philosophers, sociologists, and economists.

This provocative textbook takes up and develops the themes of rationality and irrationality in Jon Elster's earlier work.

This volume of essays considers rational responses to the insufficientcy of reason itself, and to the 'indeterminacies' in deploying rational-choice theory, and discusses the irrationality of not seeing when, where, and what these are. It will be read with interest by anyone concerned with political and social sciences.

Jon Elster has written a comprehensive, wide-ranging book on the emotions in which he considers the full range of theoretical approaches. Drawing on history, literature, philosophy and psychology Elster presents a complete account of the role of the emotions in human behavior.

This provocative book argues that, very often, people may benefit from being constrained in their options or from being ignorant.

An analysis of transitional justice - retribution and reparation after a change of political regime - from Athens in the fifth century BC to the present. The 2004 book describes the universe of cases, and proposes a framework for explaining the variations among them.