Explaining Institutional Change
Ambiguity, Agency, and Power

The essays in this book contribute to emerging debates in political science and sociology on institutional change, providing a theoretical framework and empirical applications.

James Mahoney (Edited by), Kathleen Thelen (Edited by)

9780521118835, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 October 2009

254 pages, 4 b/w illus. 7 tables
22.9 x 15.7 x 2 cm, 0.52 kg

'This is an exciting new contribution to the ongoing discussion in the social sciences on institutions and institutional change. Several disciplines are involved in this worldwide project, including political science, sociology and economics. There has been a continuing stream of highly interesting work for a number of years, and unlike usually in the social sciences, it has produced cumulative progress in the development of concepts and empirical insights. Explaining Institutional Change is another milestone in the exploration of a subject that is obviously of fundamental importance in an era of rapid social and economic restructuring.' Wolfgang Streeck, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne, Germany

This book contributes to emerging debates in political science and sociology on institutional change. Its introductory essay proposes a new framework for analyzing incremental change that is grounded in a power-distributional view of institutions and that emphasizes ongoing struggles within but also over prevailing institutional arrangements. Five empirical essays then bring the general theory to life by evaluating its causal propositions in the context of sustained analyses of specific instances of incremental change. These essays range widely across substantive topics and across times and places, including cases from the United States, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. The book closes with a chapter reflecting on the possibilities for productive exchange in the analysis of change among scholars associated with different theoretical approaches to institutions.

1. A theory of gradual institutional change James Mahoney and Kathleen Thelen
2. Infiltrating the state: the evolution of health care reforms in Brazil, 1964–88 Tulia G. Falleti
3. The contradictory potential of institutions: the rise and decline of land documentation in Kenya Ato Kwamena Onoma
4. Policymaking as political constraint: institutional development in the US social security program Alan M. Jacobs
5. Altering authoritarianism: institutional complexity and autocratic agency in Indonesia Dan Slater
6. Rethinking rules: creativity and constraint in the house of representatives Adam Sheingate
7. Historical institutionalism in rationalist and sociological perspective Peter A. Hall.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Political science & theory [JPA]