Institutionalism

Madara Gunarathne
BA(Hons) UoC
MA in International Relations, Uoc
Content
• After going through this unit, you will be able to:
• Define the institutional approach.
• Explain its tools of comparison.
• Explain the importance and limitations of this
approach.
Definitions
• Institutionalism, in the social sciences, an approach that emphasizes the
role of institutions.
• The study of institutions has a long pedigree. It draws insights from
previous work in a wide array of disciplines, including economics, political
science, sociology, anthropology, and psychology.
• Institutional theory, an approach to the study of politics that focuses on
formal institutions of government.
• its concern with studying institutions of government and the nature of
the distribution of power, constitutions, legal-formal institutions of
government
 The Institutional Approach: A Historical
Overview
Author Ideas
Aristotle Made a typology of governments distinguishing between monarchies, oligarchies and
democracy

At this stage of its origins, a study of institutions did not attempt to analyze the „theory
and practice‟ of government. There was instead an overwhelming desire to explore ideal‟
states and forms of governments
Machiavelli concentrate more on the contents, the theoretical (legal-constitutional) framework of
(The Prince) governments rather than how these frameworks unfolded in practice.
and
Montesquieu
• Bryce, Lowell and Ostrogorski, who in the last quarter of the
nineteenth century, made important contributions to the comparative
study of institutions and by implication to the evolution of comparative
governments as a distinct branch of study.
Author Work Ideas
Bryce American Commonwealth (1888) focused on the theory of
and Modern Democracies (1921) democracy and examined the
working of the legislatures and
their decline.
Lowell Governments and Parties in he undertakes separate studies of
Continental Europe(1896) France, Germany, Switzerland etc.
Public Opinion and Popular and a comparative study of
Government (1913) referendums
Ostrogorski Democracy and the Organisation of Democratic or oligarchical
Political Parties (1902) character of political parties
• It is important now to see exactly how these works changed the
manner in which institutions were so far being studied.
1. Theory and Practice of governments
Based on the liberal constitutional theory early scholars studied the
formal institutional structures with an emphasis on their legal powers
and functions. Bryce and Lowell, however, emphasized that the existing
studies were partial and incomplete. They stressed, a complete study
required not only a study of the theoretical bases or contexts of
governments (i.e. the legal-constitutional framework and governmental
institutions) but also an equal emphasis on the study of practices of
government
2. Focus on ‘facts’
A significant component of these studies was the concern to study
practice through an analysis of facts about the working of governments.
Activity 1

• Explain the institutional approach in the study of Comparative

Politics?
INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH: A
CRITICAL EVALUATION
• It is interesting that criticisms of the institutional approach in the comparative
political analysis have come in successive waves, in the early part of the twentieth
century and then again in the nineteen fifties.
• the approach was criticised:
(a) as given to speculation
(b) as largely prescriptive and normative;
(c) configurative and non-comparative focusing as it did on individual countries;
(d) ethnocentric as it concentrated on western European 'democracies’
(e) descriptive as it focused on formal (constitutional and governmental) structure;
(f) historical without being analytical
New institutionalism
• New institutionalism (also referred to as neo-institutionalist theory or
institutionalism) is an approach to the study of institutions that focuses
on the constraining and enabling effects of formal and informal rules
on the behavior of individuals and groups.
• The new institutionalism argues that public institutions are not neutral
and that institutions, loosely defined as the human-created constraints
on interactions between individuals, really do matter. In fact,
institutions shape individuals wants and preferences, as well as their
behaviour.
 Old Institutionalism
Formal-legal and administrative arrangements of state
and governments, constitutions, legislatures and
judicial systems: Thus focused on hard institutions
Describing and mapping the formal intuitions of
government and the modern state, their constitutions
both within specific countries and on comparative
basis
It was descriptive, not analytical
New Institutionalism
Focused on both hard and soft institutions
Gave new meaning and role to institutions in post
behavioral phase
Oriented towards explanation, analysis, and explicit
theory building