Rational Choice Institutionalism Research Articles

Влияние европейской политики соседства на политические режимы стран Восточного партнерства

The study deals with the impact of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) on political regimes dynamics in Eastern Partnership countries in the period 2007 to 2013. Based on the regime transition theory, Europeanisation perspective and political economy, the research claims to introduce a new theoretical model which allows to combine domestic and international factors of regime dynamics. By using the rational choice institutionalism as an analytical framework, and employing the multi-value qualitative comparative analysis (mvQCA) in combination with case studies of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine it shows that the ENP could lead to three different outcomes: democratization, stabilization of a hybrid regime, and authoritarian consolidation. The outcomes are explained by the fact that the assistance within the ENP is used by ruling elites for implementation of two conflicting strategies: the strategy of partial political reform equilibrium preservation and the strategy of new political reform equilibrium formation. Variation in the ENP's influence on the dynamics of a particular political regime is dependent on the predominance of one of these strategies, which in turn are mediated by three main domestic factors: the type of political system, the level of political monopolism, and the degree of government effectiveness. The article contains three parts. The first part presents a brief review of the main theoretical approaches to the analysis of political regimes dynamics. A general analytical framework is formulated. The second part shows how the ENP influenced the dynamics of political regimes in Eastern Partnership countries. The third and final part demonstrates the logic of such influence by examples of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Historical Institutionalism in Communication Studies

New institutionalism is a collection of institutionalist theories, including historical institutionalism, sociological institutionalism, and rational choice institutionalism. This article focuses on historical institutionalism in communication studies. First, we note that historical institutionalism—a dominant approach in political science—has appeared in relatively few studies of media and communications. Second, we describe the historical institutionalist approach. Third, we describe the historical institutionalist method in detail, breaking it down into 6 steps and demonstrating its usefulness, especially in the areas of communication history and communication policy and law. In the final section, we further develop our contention that the field of communications is a fruitful one for the development of historical institutionalism, and that historical institutionalism is a useful approach for communication scholars, especially in the areas of communication history, policy, and law.

Pioneering, Bandwagoning and Resisting: the preferences and actions of Chinese provinces in the implementation of macroeconomic regulation and control policies

This study determined the preferred strategies of provincial leaders when policies formulated by the central government jeopardized provincial interests, and investigated the extent to which these preferred strategies were reflected in actual actions. The theoretical preferred strategies were ascertained using rational choice institutionalism as a research approach, and an analytic framework was developed comprising three dimensions: (a) provincial government predictions of central government actions; (b) the terms of office of CPC provincial committee secretaries; and (c) the connections between CPC provincial committee secretaries and Hu Jintao. The results showed that the accuracy rate of the research framework to predict the actual actions of provinces was 54.8%. Using the proposed analytic framework can reduce prediction errors by 28.1%.

The United Nations Global Compact: An Institutionalist Perspective

The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) has generated a lively debate among academics, activists, and policy practitioners. Given the scope and ambition of this program, and the prestige of the United Nations associated with it, its supporters believe it will fundamentally reshape how businesses practice corporate social responsibility (CSR). Its critics view it as a flawed program because it does not impose verifiable obligations and does not compel its participants to adhere to their program obligations. We present an approach to study CSR programs grounded in rational-choice institutionalist theory, building on previous work viewing CSR programs as clubs which can produce reputational benefits for members as well as positive societal externalities, provided that they incorporate institutional mechanisms to prevent member shirking. This perspective puts the focus squarely on the institutional rules of the UNGC and their impacts on member behavior. While we conclude that the UNGC has not yet demonstrated a capacity to generate across-the-board improvements in CSR performance beyond what member firms would have done otherwise, we are hopeful that its sponsors and leaders can undertake worthwhile changes in program design to align member incentives with program objectives.

Game Changing – Tracing the Positions, Strategies and Interaction Modes of the German Länder towards the (Ever Expanding?) European Union

This article investigates how the positions, strategies and modes of interaction of the German Länder have changed over time in response to the process of Europeanization. By applying the method of process tracing within a theoretical framework of rational choice institutionalism, the article concentrates on the Länder's responses to (1) the transfer of policy competences to the European level and (2) the enlargement of the European polity. Thereby, the article sheds new light on the Europeanization of the German federal system. It is shown that the transfer of policy competences to the European level have had the greatest impact on the Länder, which have reacted increasingly strategically by successfully demanding more power in the national coordination mechanism. However, the European Union enlargements have also had an effect as together with the transfer of policy competences they have resulted in a more sceptical attitude of the Länder towards (the perceived ever expanding) European Union.

European security in NATO’s shadow: Party ideologies and institution building by Stephanie C Hofmann

Stephanie C Hofmann European security NATO's shadow: Party ideologies and institution building Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. 264 pp., $99.00 (cloth) ISBN 978-1 107029095Historians and political scientists have long considered domestic politics an important factor the formulation of foreign policy. Demonstrating the link, however, is frequently confounded by a lack of evidence. While politicians and policy makers are keen to explain their decisions as motivated by national interests and security, leaders are often unwilling to concede (especially the documents which end up archives) that electoral concerns motivated their decisions.Stephanie Hofmann's excellent book offers a different way of understanding the causal relationship between partisan politics and foreign policy making. In European Security NATO's Shadow, she argues that party ideologies are the root cause of changes foreign and security policy because they define the perceived national interest, shape efforts at international cooperation, and facilitate international cooperation with like-minded leaders abroad (2). Ideology, Hofmann's formulation, comprises three core elements of European foreign and security policy, complicating the term beyond simple left or right leanings: a party's approach to multilateralism the use of force; its concept of sovereignty and willingness to embrace supranational institutions; and its view of the nature of Europe as a political community (4). With this contribution, Hofmann prompts a broader understanding of national preference formation which takes into account the role of political parties' complete ideologies.To support her thesis, Hofmann explores post-Cold War security institutionbuilding Western Europe. Specifically, she investigates the ongoing struggle to construct an autonomous European defence institution in NATO's imposing shadow motivated by party ideology (4). During the last decade of the twentieth century, she argues, increasing similarity between states' ruling parties' ideologies facilitated cooperation institution-building (36). Hofmann's analysis is predicated upon the reader accepting her assertion that, essentially, when it comes to European security, the only states that matter are Britain, France, and Germany by virtue of their preponderant influence the European policy ecosystem and their military strength (73). Throughout the text, Hofmann identifies and rebuts alternative explanations for the construction of European security institutions outside NATO, including rational choice institutionalism, realism, and an understanding of partisan politics predicated on the left-right dichotomy alone (57).Hofmann's ensuing chapters, however, narrow the scope of her theory from her initial assertion about the broad explanatory power of parties' political ideology to an examination of its impact on three countries' efforts on one specific issue over the span of a decade. The book's main chapters trace the evolution of European security cooperation, particular institution-building, through three key episodes: the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of 1990-1991, the 1996-1997 Amsterdam Treaty negotiations, and finally the creation of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) from 1998 to 2000. This is the most disappointing aspect of Hofmann's analysis. Despite the strength of these three admirably researched case studies, Hofmann does not connect her conclusions with broader questions. …

The Effect of Electoral System on Party Nomination (or Non-partisan) in Local Election: Based on the Rational Choice Institutionalism

The Effect of Electoral System on Party Nomination (or Non-partisan) in Local Election: Based on the Rational Choice Institutionalism

Professions and Professionals: Capturing the Changing Role of Expertise Through Theoretical Triangulation

Experts with a high level of specialized knowledge deliver manyimportant services, especially in the public sector. New Public Man-agement reforms have, however, challenged the entrenched role ofexpertise in public services (Clarke and Newman 1997; Exworthy andHalford 1999), and the classical sociology of professions has difficultycapturing the changing role of expertise (Brint 1993: 3; Scott 2008:221). On the one hand, the introduction of a wide range of marketmechanisms has challenged the traditional logic of governing basedon expert authority. Instead, the role of micro-level institutions such asincentives has come to the fore. On the other hand, New PublicManagement reforms have occurred widely across different Europeancountries, thus highlighting the need to understand the relationshipsamong professional and public actors in different macro institutionalset-ups. We, therefore, discuss one approach that is concerned withmarket mechanisms and economic incentives (rational choice institu-tionalism) and another approach that focuses on the broader institu-tional context (institutionalist sociology of professions). The centralquestion in this article is how we can triangulate these two approachesin studies of how professional actors are governed and, thereby, adaptour theoretical tools to the changed context of expertise. How pro-fessional actors are governed (understood as both how others governprofessional actors and how professional actors govern themselves) isan important question: professionalized services such as medicine andteaching are vital for individual citizens, and professional actors playa key role for these services in terms of both quality and costs.

Economic Independence Of The Village Through Institutional Village Enterprises (BUMDes)

Rural development in developing countries, including Indonesia, will certainly relate to the issue of poverty reduction. One instance of the problem of poverty is rural economic governance institutions. In the perspective of the economic independence of the rural economy is an alternative institutional rational choice and unique , given the village often seen as a small, weak and underdeveloped. Therefore, to change the thoughts and views of the importance of a village in the emic perspective to try to strengthen economic institutions through village-owned enterprises (BUMDes). This study aims to explain the phenomena of the institutional. BUMDes the main issues of governance, BUMDes as actors or institutions (organizations) in order to continue to grow the economy This study used a qualitative approach through the method of phenomenology, the locus of the suburban rural areas in Malang, East Java Province, Ketindan village and Wonorejo village, District of Lawang, and Gondowangi village, District of Wagir. Background for the site selection studies have established institution with its main business BUMDes on water management in order to meet the needs of the villagers. The results of this research in theoretical and empirical perspectives (emic), shows that : (1). Institutional BUMDes refers to the maximization of utility as the goal, the maximization of profit (profit maximization), (2). The community of BUMDes Institutions are more likely to prioritize rationality villagers as a group, with social capital as the basis of individual interests and preferences; (3). BUMDes organizational structure that is outside the village government structures are not always stable and efficient in providing services to villagers., And (4). Villagers are assigned as officers and employees BUMDes more motivation and orientation based on the non-material, namely a sense of respect and appreciation socially and politically than economically. BUMDes institutions to put forward the goal of maximizing the usefulness of water for the fulfillment of (welfare) villagers, rather than maximizing profit for increased revenue village (PADes). BUMDes governance implementation based on the perspectives, preferences, and commodities are produced according to the

An institutional critique of new climate scenarios

Leading climate analysts are designing a set of new policy scenarios that will be used to frame future climate policy analyses. This new exercise seeks to improve the realism of the scenarios used in climate policy analysis. In recent decades, rational choice institutionalism (RCI) has increasingly influenced several social sciences. A systematic effort to apply findings and concepts borrowed from RCI studies would offer three types of benefits to this scenario exercise. First, it would increase internal consistency within each of the projected scenarios. Second, it would enhance the realism of the entire suite of scenarios. Third, it would illuminate a range of factors, trends, and causal pathways than might otherwise be considered. These gains could be exploited best by engaging some leading RCI scholars in the scenario building process.

The Establishment of FRONTEX: A New Institutionalist Approach

As border management continues to be a contentious and fast developing policy area in the EU, a better understanding of FRONTEX is needed. This article takes the new institutionalist approach that the functioning of institutions is dependent on the conditions under which they emerge. Drawing on documentary resources and semi-structured interviews with EU officials, the article traces the process leading to the establishment of FRONTEX. It argues that a proper understanding of agency creation and design requires us to look beyond rational choice institutionalist explanations and take into account social processes and historical contexts. Expectations derived from the three main strands of new institutionalism (rational choice institutionalism, sociological institutionalism and historical institutionalism) are not mutually exclusive and can function as conceptual lenses drawing attention to different aspects of agency creation.

Implementing Regulatory Reforms in Multi-Level Governance Systems: The Case of the Reform of the Water Sector in Italy (1994-2006)

Within the field of regulation policy and politics, various scholarly works have examined policy reforms intended to change the regulation of large-scale infrastructure-based public service industries. Relatively little attention has been placed, however, on the jagged and ineffectual implementation of regulatory reforms that especially takes place when the implementation context includes features of a multi-level governance system. For reasons especially related to the technical, economic, and territorial characteristics of infrastructure and sub-national governments' political responsibilities towards local communities, within this type of scenario the implementation of regulatory reforms tends to exhibit high levels of political confrontation between actors of the reformed infrastructure industry, with respect to what is ordinarily experienced when a regulatory reform is implemented by public agencies or any body of the executive at the central level. This thesis aims to contribute furthering our understanding of the political economy of implementing regulatory reforms by conducting an exploratory case study whose episode is the implementation stage of the 12 year long (1994-2006) policy cycle to liberalise, re-regulate, and privatise Italy’s (drinking water and waste) water sector. The main explanatory issues at stake relate to why the implementation trajectory changed over time (i.e., a period of obstructed implementation was followed by one of accelerated execution of the policy reform content) and across space (i.e., implementation progressed faster in Alto Valdarno in Tuscany than elsewhere in the country). The analysis of the case is conducted by following two alternative theoretical approaches in turn, namely institutional rational choice and institutional processualism. Answers to these questions provide some evidence for qualifying existing generalised arguments about the policy. process of implementing regulatory reforms and for assessing the relative strengths and weaknesses of alternative theoretical perspectives.

Institutional change from a historical institutionalist perspective

Moreover, I show that new institutionalists transcend the limits of old institutionalism, as they in-clude in the analysis both formal and informal institutions, and elaborate theories of institutional emergenceand change. In the second section of the article, I discuss the main assumptions of historical institutionalismand its conception of institutional change. To grasp the distinctive character of the latter, I compare it withthe conception of institutional change in rational choice institutionalism.

The Bargaining Power of Territorially Constituted Institutionalised Coalitions in EU Council Negotiations

There is growing evidence that negotiations in the European Union Council are not only taking place within the formal EU decision making structures. Member states strive to identify like-minded peers and to exchange information prior to the formal negotiations. Institutionalised intergovernmental coalitions that exist among the member states on a geographical affinity basis, e.g. Benelux and Nordic subgroups facilitate exchange among their members and grant them a bargaining advantage. The knowledge of the effects of territorially constituted institutionalised coalitions is, however, limited. Drawing on rational choice institutionalism, this study argues that territorially constituted institutionalised coalitions enhance the bargaining power through three mechanisms: first, exchange of information, which counterbalances the asymmetries in information distribution at the pre-negotiation stage; second, pooling of expertise that allows the member states to share resources and provide common argumentation for their positions; and, third, through rhetorical action that gives more strength to normative justifications ,which may lead to the normative entrapment of other member states outside the coalition.

From ‘Frankenstein’ to ‘toothless vampire’? Explaining the watering down of the Services Directive

The Services Directive is one of the most significant and controversial legislative proposals ever negotiated in the European Union (EU). This article fills a gap in our knowledge by addressing the key questions as to why and how this prestigious proposal was watered down during the negotiation process. By applying the framework of rational choice institutionalism, the analysis pinpoints the positions of the key players and estimates their relative importance in shaping the final outcome. Prima facie, the European Parliament seemed to be the decisive actor developing the text which was adopted in the end. However, a closer inspection reveals that the text was influenced by the newly elected conservative–socialist coalition government in Germany and reflected a relatively low common denominator which secured acceptance from not only the vast majority of Members of the European Parliament, but also avoided any explicit opposition in the adoption by the Council of Ministers.

The promise of new institutionalism: explaining the absence of a World or United Nations Environment Organisation

In the past forty years, numerous proposals to improve the fragmented international environmental governance (IEG) system have been developed, many of which call for the establishment of an international environment organisation. Although governments and scholars agree that the system needs improvement, no such substantial reform has yet been undertaken. Based on the literature study and more than twenty interviews, this article explains the absence of an international environment organisation, using three theories of new institutionalism: historical, rational choice and discursive institutionalism. Through the notion of path dependency, historical institutionalism explains how the self-reinforcing cycle of a rather diffused development of the IEG system, characterised by incremental changes, has made the system more complicated and prevented substantial institutional change. Historical institutionalism also highlights power inequalities and lack of trust between nation-states, as well as turf wars between international organisations, as key explanatory factors hampering IEG reform. Rational choice institutionalism complements such explanations by showing how incremental institutional changes that do not add up to substantial reform are the result of the fact that neither nation-states nor international organisations are interested in establishing a powerful environment organisation that might encroach upon their sovereignty. Finally, discursive institutionalism suggests that the norm to do at least something to improve the IEG system has prompted nation-states to create “symbolic” institutions. The concept of socialisation helps to explain why incremental institutional developments within the UN system are more likely than substantial reform. The article shows that new institutionalism theories complement rather than contradict one another, resulting in a more holistic explanation of lack of IEG reform.

European Union regulatory politics in the shadow of the WTO: WTO rules as frame of reference and rhetorical device

This contribution asks how the World Trade Organization (WTO) affects European Union (EU) regulatory politics. While WTO rules have no direct effect, authors who take a rational choice institutionalist perspective argue that these rules are enforced domestically through the mobilization of exporters triggered by the WTO dispute settlement system. This contribution challenges the plausibility of this argument and offers an alternative perspective rooted in historical and discursive institutionalism. It contends that WTO rules act as both a frame of reference influencing actors' perceptions of the scope of legitimate policy outcomes and as a rhetorical device that may be used by actors in domestic political battles over regulatory policy decisions. Two recent decisions on EU regulation with international trade effects are process-traced to demonstrate the value of the alternative perspective against the rational choice institutionalism model: Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) and the proposed ‘carbon border tax’ in the framework of the EU emissions trading scheme post-2013.

Legitimation durch Performanz? Zur Output-Legitimität in Autokratien

Abstract This article explores the role of the output legitimacy in autocracies. A review of recent contributions to the study of autocracies and the analysis of data on outputs and outcomes do not support the view that autocracies are capable of generating a high level of output legitimacy through high levels of political performance. A wider range of barriers such as performance dilemmas, resource constraints, deficient processing of information, and trade - offs tend to inhibit the generation of large - scale output legitimacy in most autocracies. The solution suggested by rational choice institutionalism for the dictator's dilemma, namely repression and political exchange, is, thus, in most cases either not feasible or feasible only in a limited, non - sustainable fashion. These findings lend support to the view that non - democracies suffer from a comparative structural autocracy disadvantage. Autocratic leaders are therefore faced with the difficult task of having to choose between alternative m...

Institutional Change in Europe: Co‐decision and Comitology Transformed*

AbstractThis article explains how institutional rules changeafterthey have been established in two important areas of European decision‐making: co‐decision and comitology. It shows how legislation under co‐decision was transformed into fast‐track legislation and why the Parliament gradually – between treaty reforms – gained more institutional power in comitology. The rational choice institutionalist explanation applied here focuses on the efficiency increasing/transaction cost saving aspects of interstitial institutional change, but also on the question of who gains and who loses in power under specific rules and how power may subsequently be shifted. The hypotheses derived from the theoretical considerations are subject to empirical (dis)confirmation on the basis of quantitative and qualitative empirical data collected on co‐decision and delegation over time. The conclusion summarizes the argument and explores the applicability of the explanations to two other polities of regional integration: North Atlantic Free Trade Association (Nafta) and Mercosur (the Common Southern Market).

A Typology of Indigenous Engagement in Australian Environmental Management: Implications for Knowledge Integration and Social-ecological System Sustainability

Indigenous peoples now engage with many decentralized approaches to environmental management that offer opportunities for integration of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK) and western science to promote cultural diversity in the management of social-ecological system sustainability. Nevertheless, processes of combining IEK with western science are diverse and affected by numerous factors, including the adaptive co-management context, the intrinsic characteristics of the natural resources, and the governance systems. We present a typology of Indigenous engagement in environmental management, derived through comparative analysis of 21 Australian case studies, and consider its implications for the integration of IEK with western science. Sociological and rational choice institutionalism underpin our analytical framework, which differentiates on three axes: (1) power sharing, incorporating decision making, rules definition, resource values and property rights; (2) participation, incorporating participatory processes, organizations engaged, and coordination approaches; (3) intercultural purpose, incorporating purposes of environmental management, Indigenous engagement, Indigenous development and capacity building. Our typology groups engagement into four types: Indigenous governed collaborations; Indigenous-driven co-governance; agency-driven co-governance; and agency governance. From our analysis of manifestations of knowledge integration across the types, we argue that Indigenous governance and Indigenous-driven co-governance provides better prospects for integration of IEK and western science for sustainability of social-ecological systems. Supporting Indigenous governance without, or with only a limited requirement for power sharing with other agencies sustains the distinct Indigenous cultural purposes underpinning IEK, and benefits knowledge integration. We conclude by advocating that the typology be applied to test its general effectiveness in guiding practitioners and researchers to develop robust governance for Indigenous knowledge integration in environmental management.