Institutional Theory: Problems and Prospects

Abstract: Institutional theory in political science has made great advances in recent years, but also has a number of significant theoretical and methodological problems. The most important of these problems is the generally static nature of institutional explanations. Also, there is a nagging problem of the difficulties in measuring institutional variables in other than simplistic, nominal categories. As well as discussing these problems this paper addresses the static nature of institutional theory by examining the concept of "institutionalization", and the creation (and tearing down) of institutional structures. The paper argues that by considering institutionalization as a continuous variable rather than a nominal variable we can beginto understand better the dynamics of institutions themselves, and therefore also develop better institutional explanations for other social and political phenomena.;