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The Four Faces of Institutionalism: Public Policy and a Pluralistic Perspective
Author(s) -
Reich Simon
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
governance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.46
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1468-0491
pISSN - 0952-1895
DOI - 10.1111/0952-1895.00143
Subject(s) - institutionalism , new institutionalism , normative , positive economics , proposition , politics , argument (complex analysis) , historical institutionalism , sociology , public policy , modernization theory , perspective (graphical) , economics , epistemology , political science , law , artificial intelligence , computer science , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry
Contending conceptions of the “new” institutionalism claim to offer approaches that can develop generalizable social scientific theories of behavior. This article challenges that proposition, arguing that contingencies exist in which specific forms of institutionalism are best suited to addressing particular types of questions. Viewed through the prism of public policy, it develops the argument that ‘policy dictates politics.’ It suggests that four variants of institutionalism (historical, new economic, normative, and billiard ball) are each systematically most appropriate to examine the issues in the policy domains of redistribution, regulation, modernization, and liberalization, respectively.