Interests versus culture in the theory of institutional change?
This paper suggests an analytical framework to bring two explanations of institutional change together. My analysis rests on three building blocks: Firstly on the idea of the transfer or transplantation of institutions, secondly on the idea of functional differentiation, and thirdly and decisively on an understanding of culture as a toolkit leaving room for interest, choice and strategic action. The concepts of institutional transplantation and of functional differentiation will be introduced in the following section. In the third one, I will reformulate North's neoclassical theory of the state and his elaborations on culture and belief systems in terms of these concepts. Section four, then, offers a proposal of how to bridge the gap between the two approaches. Throughout the paper, I will use the example of Russia to illustrate my theoretical thoughts, a country I have been studying for years and which, as North (1999,9) remarks, is particularly suited to explain the problems of economic change. In section five I will outline in very basic terms how the history of failed attempts at reforms in Russia might be interpreted from the perspective developed here.
Year of publication: |
2007
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Authors: | Zweynert, Joachim |
Institutions: | Hamburgisches WeltWirtschaftsInstitut (HWWI) |
Saved in:
freely available
Extent: | application/pdf |
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Series: | HWWI Research Papers. - ISSN 1861-504X. |
Type of publication: | Book / Working Paper |
Language: | English |
Notes: | Number 5-3 |
Source: |
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10009211064
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