New Institutionalism: Distilling Some ‘Hard Core’ Propositions in the Works of Williamson and March and Olsen

Abstract

The efflorescence of work on new institutionalism has encouraged scholars to build bridges between various schools of thought. Such cross-fertilisation enlivens the debate but runs the risk of erecting bridges on shaky foundations. My article seeks to minimise this risk by going back to basics. It narrows the field of inquiry to the economic and the sociological institutionalist tradition represented by Williamson on one side, and the collaborative work of March and Olsen on the other. It explores and assesses their contribution on three interrelated issues fundamental to any analysis of political institutions: the goals attributed to institutions, the theory of action and the commitment to methodological individualism versus methodological holism. I conclude by noting that in the transition from the old to the new institutionalism - as represented in the works of these authors - the role of power conflicts, negotiations and bargaining between individuals seems to have lost its central position.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Barry , (1970), Sociologists, Economists and Democracy, New York: Collier-MacMillan.

Bentham

(1996[1789]), ‘An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation’ in Burns

J.H.

Hart

H.L.A.

, The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham, Clarendon Press.

Chandler

A.D.

Jr (1962), Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the American Industrial Enterprise, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Dowding

(1994), ‘The Compatibility of Behaviouralism, Rational Choice and “New Institutionalism” Journal of Theoretical Politic, 6(1), pp. 105–117.

Granovetter

(1992), ‘Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness’ in Granovetter

Swedberg

(eds.), The Sociology of Economic Life, Boulder, Colo.: West-view Press, pp. 53–81.

Green

Shapiro

(1994), Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory: A Critique of Applications in Political Science. (New Haven, Ct: Yale University Press).

Hall

P.A.

Taylor

C.R.

(1996), ‘Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms’, Political Studies 45, pp. 936–957.

Hall

P.A.

Taylor

C.R.

(1998) ‘The Potential of Historical Institutionalism: A Response to Hay and Wincott’, Political Studies, 46(5), pp. 958–962.

Hay

Wincott

, (1998), ‘Structure, Agency and Historical Institutionalism’, Political Studies, 46(5), pp. 951–957.

10.

Hirsh

P.M.

Loundsbury

(1997), ‘Ending the Family Quarrel’, American Behavioral Scientist 40 (4), pp. 406–418.

11.

Kato

(1996), ‘Review Article: Institutions and rationality in Politics -Three Varieties of Neo-Institutionalists’, British Journal of Political Science, 27, pp. 553–582.

12.

Lowndes

(1996), ‘Varieties of New Institutionalism: A Critical Appraisal’, Public Administration, 74, pp. 181–197.

13.

March

J.C.

Olsen

J.P.

(1984), ‘The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life’, American Political Science Review 78, pp. 734–749.

14.

March

J.C.

Olsen

J. P.

(1986), ‘Popular Sovereignty and the Search for Appropriate Institutions’, Journal of Public Policy 6(4), pp. 341–370.

15.

March

J.C.

Olsen

J. P.

(1989), Rediscovering Institutions, New York: Free Press.

16.

North

(1990), Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

17.

Parsons

(1937), The Structure of Social Action, New York: McGraw-Hill.

18.

Powell

Di Maggio

(1991), The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

19.

Pfeffer

(1991) Power in Organisations (London: Pitman).

20.

Selznick

(1947), The Tennessee Valley Authority and the Grassroots, Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press.

21.

Simon

(1957), Models of Man: Social and Rational, New York: Wiley.

22.

Stinchombe

(1997), ‘On the Virtues of the Old Institutionalism’, Annual Review of Sociology 23, pp. 1–18.

23.

Weber

(1968[1922]) Economy and Society, New York: Bedminster Press Inc.

24.

Williamson

(1985), Markets and Hierarchies, New York: Free Press.