Political Science 1020E Chapter Notes -Historical Institutionalism, Rational Agent, Path Dependence

• School: Western University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: Political Science 1020E
• Professor: Bruce Morrison

Document Summary

The state still lies at the heart of new institutionlist scholarship even if it is not always labelled as such. Rational choice institutionalism portrays the state either as itself a rational actor pursuing the logic of interest or as a structure of incentives within which rational actors follow their preferences. Historical institituionalism concentrates instead on the origins and development of the state and its constituent parts, which it explains by the outcomes of purposeful choices and historically unique initial conditions in logic of path dependence. Sociological institutionalism sees the state as socially constituted and culturally framed, with political agents acting according to the logic of appropriateness that follows from culturally-specific rules and norms. New institutionalism discursive institutionalism considers the state in terms of the ideas and discourse that actors use to explain, deliberate or legitimize political action in institutional context according to the logic of communication.