Notes on a Historical Institutionalist Approach to the IPPG Agenda
Generally speaking the historical institutionalists whose work is discussed here have followed North in defining institutions as sets of rules, whether formal or informal, that actors follow and organisations as durable entities with formally recognised members, whose rules are also amongst the institutions of the political economy.
Several of the founding propositions of the IPPG imply that we will take an historical approach; we stated (citing, variously, research by Rodrik, Kenny and Williams, Hodgson and Bardhan):
- There is widespread recognition of the limitations of both growth theory and cross-national econometric analysis for the understanding of growth, and the consequent need, given that economic growth 'concerns a complex of interlocking, circular and cumulative changes', for substantial historical analysis of 'the inner workings of actual economies', in addition to formal analysis [Kenny and Williams]
- Another reason for advocating the importance of history is that institutions are embedded in politics and in culture. The same formal institutions have different consequences in distinct political contexts – effective outcomes do not map onto unique institutional designs (Rodrik) and formal institutions, like legal rules, are always and necessarily embedded in deep, informal social structures, involving such factors as trust, duty and obligation, 'which have to be studied substantively' (Hodgson)
- The history of the evolution of institutions (formal and informal) reflects the changing bargaining – power of different social groups. Societies may become 'locked' into institutions that are dysfunctional for large sections of their populations, because these institutions satisfy the interests of power-holders
- But awareness of historical-path-dependence must be balanced in institutional analysis by recognition of the possibilities for human agency to bring about change (Bardhan).
Given these commitments, what can we learn from existing research within an historical institutionalist perspective and can we identify points of departure – researchable questions – for the IPPG Programme?
Professor John Harriss (LSE), 2006.
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Last modified: 31 March 2009