Constitutional economics as a solution to the political degeneration

Public sector has expanded, because of the economics and social problems, bothin developed and developing countries especially since the 1960s. This situation is theresult of active both fiscal and populist policies. Various problems have emerged due tothese policies. One of the most important ones is political degeneration. This problem isalso critical for Turkey.According to Public Choice theory, political parties, voters, bureaucracy andpressure groups are efficient over the decisions related to the public expenditure of thecountries regardless of their economic structure.The actors in the political decision making process (political parties, voters,bureaucracy and pressure groups) would like to use the public resources by appearingtheirself interest on the public resource assignment. Using of public resource frompolitical actors cause to appears certain degenerations in the political decision makingprocess. These degenerations which are appeared has destroyed the public decisionmaking process.The aim of Public Choice theory is to apply the tools and methods of economicsto the politics. Public Choice theory which evaluates the political events with aneconomic perspective benefits from the following principles, methodologicalindividualism, homo economicus and catallaxy.Constitutional Economics, aims to solution the economic problems sourced fromcorrupted economical and political systems. This theory claims that basic economicpolicies of countries must take place in the constitution. Thus, economic rights andfreedoms of individuals will be taken under security and also the economic policies ofthe country will be protected from populism.In this master thesis, political degeneration is examined according to PublicChoice theory and Constitutional Economics.Keywords: Political degeneration, the theory of public choice, constitutionaleconomics, political decision making process, economic constitution.