The weakness of the neo-institutionalist approaches: how political institutions change

No abstractWhat rational choice, sociological and historical neo-institutionalist approaches have in common is the importance they attribute to the study of institutions. Institutions exert autonomous influence upon individual behaviour and thereby affect political outcomes. Where the three approaches differ is in the answers they provide to three key questions: What could be considered an institution? How do institutions affect individual action? How are institutions created, why do they persist and what brings about institutional change? By and large, the greatest weakness of all neo-institutionalist approaches is their difficulty to account for institutional creation and change. What is argued here is that historical institutionalism is best equipped to deal with institutional dynamics and has been more successful in doing so compared to rational choice and sociological neo-institutionalism