2016/02/10 by Giovanni Capoccia · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Business, Management and Accounting · #Social Policy and Reform Studies #Culture, Economy, and Development Studies #Political Influence and Corporate Strategies
paper · doi:10.1177/0010414015626449
openalex publication_date 2016/02/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02
Historical institutionalist theories of endogenous change have enhanced our understanding of institutional development by providing a theoretical vocabulary for analyzing how institutions may be renegotiated over the long run by social and political actors. In these theories, however, the causal impact of institutions themselves on political outcomes, including their own change and reform, is less developed—a significant problem for an institutional research program. This article addresses this problem by proposing strategies that integrate historical institutionalism’s insights into endogenous institutional change with a systematic analysis of the institutional conditions under which “bottom-up” processes of gradual change are likely to be counteracted. In particular, the institutionalization of cultural categories and the allocation of power over the timing of reform within institutional and policy configurations are important variables for understanding how preexisting institutions may enable institutional incumbents to channel, delay, or prevent institutional change altogether.