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Do We Really Need a New ‘Constructivist Institutionalism’ to Explain Institutional Change?

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  • Bell, Stephen

Abstract

Rational choice, historical institutionalism and sociological institutionalism are under criticism from a new ‘constructivist institutionalism’ – with critics claiming that established positions cannot explain institutional change effectively, because agents are highly constrained by their institutional environments. These alleged problems in explaining institutional change are exaggerated and can be dealt with by using a suitably tailored historical institutionalism. This places active, interpretive agents at the centre of analysis, in institutional settings modelled as more flexible than those found in ‘sticky’ versions of historical institutionalism. This alternative approach also absorbs core elements of constructivism in explaining institutional change. The article concludes with empirical illustrations, mainly from Australian politics, of the key claims about how agents operate within institutions with ‘bounded discretion’, and how institutional environments can shape and even empower agency in change processes.

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  • Bell, Stephen, 2011. "Do We Really Need a New ‘Constructivist Institutionalism’ to Explain Institutional Change?," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(4), pages 883-906, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:bjposi:v:41:y:2011:i:04:p:883-906_00
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    2. Roberts, Cameron & Geels, Frank W., 2019. "Conditions for politically accelerated transitions: Historical institutionalism, the multi-level perspective, and two historical case studies in transport and agriculture," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 221-240.
    3. Zoltan GRUNHUT, 2020. "The ‘Expertisation’ of European Studies. A critical perspective on discursive institutionalism Abstract: The paper puts into perspective the conceptual evolution of European Studies and one of its lat," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 11, pages 252-272, June.
    4. Karaulova, Maria & Shackleton, Oliver & Liu, Weishu & Gök, Abdullah & Shapira, Philip, 2017. "Institutional change and innovation system transformation: A tale of two academies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 196-207.
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    8. Patricio Valdivieso & Pablo Neudorfer & Krister P. Andersson, 2021. "Causes and Consequences of Local Government Efforts to Reduce Risk and Adapt to Extreme Weather Events: Municipal Organizational Robustness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-43, July.
    9. McCauley, Darren & Brown, Antje & Rehner, Robert & Heffron, Raphael & van de Graaff, Shashi, 2018. "Energy justice and policy change: An historical political analysis of the German nuclear phase-out," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 317-323.
    10. Rachel Robinson, 2016. "Hybridity: A Theory of Agency in Early Childhood Governance," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-13, February.
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    14. James Dawson & Seán Hanley, 2019. "Foreground Liberalism, Background Nationalism: A Discursive‐institutionalist Account of EU Leverage and ‘Democratic Backsliding’ in East Central Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 710-728, July.
    15. Endrejat, Vanessa & Thiemann, Matthias, 2018. "Reviving the shadow banking chain in Europe: Regulatory agency, technical complexity and the dynamics of co-habitation," SAFE Working Paper Series 222, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
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    17. Till Pistorius & Sabine Reinecke & Astrid Carrapatoso, 2017. "A historical institutionalist view on merging LULUCF and REDD+ in a post-2020 climate agreement," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 623-638, October.
    18. Ewa Dabrowska & Joachim Zweynert, 2014. "Economic Ideas and Institutional Change: The Case of the Russian Stabilisation Fund," Working Papers 339, Leibniz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies).
    19. Byungwon Woo, 2020. "Ben Clift. 2018. The IMF and the Politics of Austerity in the Wake of the Global Financial Crisis (Oxford: Oxford University Press)," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 301-305, January.
    20. Peter Tangney & Claire Nettle & Beverley Clarke & Joshua Newman & Cassandra Star, 2021. "Climate security in the Indo-Pacific: a systematic review of governance challenges for enhancing regional climate resilience," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 1-30, August.

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