INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE FROM A HISTORICAL INSTITUTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE
INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE FROM A HISTORICAL INSTITUTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE
Author(s): Tomasz LeśniakSubject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Wydawnictwa AGH
Keywords: institutional change; historical institutionalism; path dependency; critical junctures; feedback mechanisms
Summary/Abstract: In this article, I argue that historical institutionalist concepts such as 'path dependency', 'critical junctures: and 'feedback mechanisms' are vital for explaining institutional change. First, I describe the emergence of different 'new institutionalist' approaches as a reaction against the domination of behavioralism in political science. Moreover, I show that new institutionalists transcend the limits of old institutionalism, as they in-clude in the analysis both formal and informal institutions, and elaborate theories of institutional emergence and change. In the second section of the article, I discuss the main assumptions of historical institutionalism and its conception of institutional change. To grasp the distinctive character of the latter, I compare it with the conception of institutional change in rational choice institutionalism.
Journal: Studia Humanistyczne AGH
- Issue Year: 12/2013
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 47-55
- Page Count: 9
- Language: English