Forms of institutional explanation

This chapter presents a distinctive institutional theory, the explanatory power of which will be explored in later chapters. It contrasts significantly with other traditions' understandings of what institutions are and how they explain thought style, preferences or action.

It has become conventional to distinguish between three varieties of institutionalism, namely,

1. rational choice institutionalism (which in turn is divided into actor-centred traditions – Scharpf, 1997 – and transaction cost traditions – North, 1990; Williamson, 1985);

2. historical institutionalism (Katznelson and Weingast, 2005a; Steinmo et al., 1992); and

3. sociological institutionalism (Powell and DiMaggio, 1991).