THE DYNAMICS OF INSTITUTIONAL CHANGEAND THE CASE OF THE EU BUDGETARY NEGOTIATIONS

This dissertation analyzes how institutions change, particularly how institutions go in and out of equilibrium; it proposes a dynamic account of institutional change by examining the endogenous and exogenous factors that change the preferences of players and the distributional implications of (renegotiated) institutional outcomes. The EU budgetary negotiations provide a compelling case for institutional change in the EU. Motto:"Disequilibrium, or the potential that the status quo be upset, is the characteristic feature of politics…What prevents purely random embodiments of tastes is the fact that decisions are customarily made within the framework of known rules, which are what we commonly call institutions." (Riker 1980, 443