GOVT2991 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Neo-Marxism, Discourse Analysis, Westminster System
26 Jul 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Week 6: Institutionalism and Text Analysis (11 April)
Part 1 - Associate Professor John Mikler (Guest Lecturer): What is the impact of
institutionalism on political science? What is neo-institutionalism and its focus?
Part 2 - Discourse analysis: How do people undertake discourse analysis? Why is the
analysis and interpretation of text and narrative important in political science research?
Readings
● Textbook: Chapter 3 Vivien Lowndes ‘The Institutional Approach’, pp. 60-79.
The institutional approach in the I950s was the description of constitutions, legal systems and gov structures
and their comparison over time and countries
I980s: Challenging institutional face value - much more then the formal
Behaviousalists sought to explain how and why individuals acted as they did
Rational choice: explain politics in terms of the interplay of individuals self-interest- role of institutional factors
Both dismissed institutions as no more than the simple aggregation of individual sperferences
neo-marxist: systematic power -reg and regime
-limits in scope and method. The focus was upon formal rules and organisations rather than informal
conventions and official structures of governance
John points to a strong functionalist tendency-that is the assumption that particular institutions are the
manifestations of the functions of political life.
Claims to objectivity sits uneasily alongside their polemical idiom and desire to foster the westminster model
Institutionalism is a ‘set of theoretical ideas and hypoth concerns the relations between institutionsla
characteristics and political aagency, preformance and change’ March and Olsen
There has been a multiplication of institutional approaches
Normative institutionalism argues that political institutions influence actors’ behaviour by shaping their values,
norms, interests…
Institutions simply political life by ensuring that some things are taken for granted in deciding other things.
Defending:
For Rhodes institutions is as the historic heart of the subject and part of the toolkit of every political scientist
Document Summary
Week 6: institutionalism and text analysis (11 april) Textbook: chapter 3 vivien lowndes the institutional approach", pp. The institutional approach in the i950s was the description of constitutions, legal systems and gov structures and their comparison over time and countries. I980s: challenging institutional face value - much more then the formal. Behaviousalists sought to explain how and why individuals acted as they did. Rational choice: explain politics in terms of the interplay of individuals self-interest- role of institutional factors. Both dismissed institutions as no more than the simple aggregation of individual sperferences neo-marxist: systematic power -reg and regime. The focus was upon formal rules and organisations rather than informal conventions and official structures of governance. John points to a strong functionalist tendency-that is the assumption that particular institutions are the manifestations of the functions of political life. Claims to objectivity sits uneasily alongside their polemical idiom and desire to foster the westminster model.
