Institutionalism

• Institutionalism


  An idea used in political science, sociology, and history that deals with the macro aspects of society and the individual's relationship with institutions (meso-level)
• Institutions


  Established systems or entities wherein their members adhere to certain rules and norms. They are structures or mechanisms that facilitate social order.
• Institutions play a significant role in shaping individuals' behavior
• Institutionalism


  An approach to studying the emergence, persistence, change, and impacts of institutions in the social, economic, and political decisions and behavior of a state or society
• State


  A group of people (through bureaucracies or a social structure) that is sovereign in its defined territory and has systems of rules over the people living inside it
• Old institutionalism (1800s)


  • Studies how formal rules or procedures, such as those of the state (laws and ordinances), shape the decision-making behavior of political actors
  • Goal is to determine what institutional design is best to direct and regulate the behavior of individuals, who are assumed to be unpredictable and irrational
• Old institutionalism


  • How does the drinking age in the Philippines affect your behavior?
• New institutionalism (post-WW2)


  • Focuses on the impact of institutions on social groups and informal relationships among actors in terms of power distribution
  • Interpersonal relationships are crucial in influencing institutions
  • Believes that power is distributed among the states' institutions
• Subfields of new institutionalism

  • Normative institutionalism: how an institution's norms and standards guide the consensus and behaviors of the individuals
  • Historical institutionalism: examines the evolution of institutions through path dependency; sees individuals as actors for change
  • Rational choice institutionalism: actors maximize how they realize their interests and goals through institutional limitations
• Normative institutionalism

  • How EU members adhere to their set of standards
  • UN member states adhere to the goals of the institutions
• Historical institutionalism


  • PDAF scam in 2013: What is PDAF? How does this affect the present responses of the Philippine government on corruption?
• Rational choice institutionalism


  • Why do countries want to join the UN or sign treaties?