BEYOND CONTINUITY: INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE IN ADVANCED POLITICAL ECONOMIES; ED. BY WOLFGANG STREECK

Debates surrounding institutional change have become increasingly central to Political Science, Management Studies, and Sociology, opposing the role of globalization in bringing about a convergence of national economies and institutions on one model to theories about 'Varieties of Capitalism'. This book brings together a distinguished set of contributors from a variety to examine current theories of institutional change. The chapters highlight the limitations of these theories, finding them lacking in the analytic tools necessary to identify the changes occurring at a national level, and therefore tend to explain many changes and innovations as simply another version of previous situations. Instead a model emerges of contemporary political economies developing in incremental but cummulatively transformative processes. The contributors shoe that a wide, but not infinite, variety of models of institutional change exist which can meaniingfully distinguished and analytically compared. They offer an empirically grounded typology of modes of institutional change that offer important insights on mechanisms of social and political stability, and evolution generally. Beyond Continuity provides a more complex and fundamental understanding of institutional change, and will be important reading for academics, researchers, and advanced students of Political Science, Management Studies, Sociology and Economics. Debates surrounding institutional change have become increasingly central to Political Science, Management Studies, and Sociology, opposing the role of globalization in bringing about a convergence of national economies and institutions on one model to theories about 'Varieties of Capitalism'. This book brings together a distinguished set of contributors from a variety of disciplines to examine current theories of institutional change. The chapters highlight the limitations of these theories, finding them lacking in the analytic tools necessary to identify the changes occurring at a national level, and therefore tend to explain many changes and innovation as simply another version of previous situations. Instead a model emerges of contemporary political economies developing in incremental but cumulatively transformative processes. The contributors show that a wide, but not infinite, variety of models of institutional change exist which can meaningfully distinguished and analytically compared. They offer an empirically grounded typology of modes of institutional change that offer important insights on mechanisms of social and political stability, and evolution generally. Beyond Continuity provides a more complex and fundamental understanding of institutional change, and will be important reading for academics, researchers, and advanced students of Political Science, Management Studies, Sociology, and Economics. Contents......Page 10 List of Contributors......Page 12 List of Figures......Page 16 List of Tables......Page 17 Abbreviations......Page 18 1 Introduction: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies......Page 20 2 Policy Drift: The Hidden Politics of US Welfare State Retrenchment......Page 59 3 Changing Dominant Practice: Making use of Institutional Diversity in Hungary and the United Kingdom......Page 102 4 Redeploying the State: Liberalization and Social Policy in France......Page 122 5 Ambiguous Agreement, Cumulative Change: French Social Policy in the 1990s......Page 146 6 Routine Adjustment and Bounded Innovation: The Changing Political Economy of Japan......Page 164 7 Change from Within: German and Italian Finance in the 1990s......Page 188 8 Institutional Resettlement: The Case of Early Retirement in Germany......Page 222 9 Contested Boundaries: Ambiguity and Creativity in the Evolution of German Codetermination......Page 248 10 Adaptation, Recombination, and Reinforcement: The Story of Antitrust and Competition Law in Germany and Europe......Page 274 C......Page 301 E......Page 302 F......Page 303 I......Page 304 J......Page 305 N......Page 306 R......Page 307 U......Page 308 Z......Page 309 Contents 10 List of Contributors 12 List of Figures 16 List of Tables 17 Abbreviations 18 1 Introduction: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies 20 2 Policy Drift: The Hidden Politics of US Welfare State Retrenchment 59 3 Changing Dominant Practice: Making use of Institutional Diversity in Hungary and the United Kingdom 102 4 Redeploying the State: Liberalization and Social Policy in France 122 5 Ambiguous Agreement, Cumulative Change: French Social Policy in the 1990s 146 6 Routine Adjustment and Bounded Innovation: The Changing Political Economy of Japan 164 7 Change from Within: German and Italian Finance in the 1990s 188 8 Institutional Resettlement: The Case of Early Retirement in Germany 222 9 Contested Boundaries: Ambiguity and Creativity in the Evolution of German Codetermination 248 10 Adaptation, Recombination, and Reinforcement: The Story of Antitrust and Competition Law in Germany and Europe 274 Index 301 A 301 B 301 C 301 D 302 E 302 F 303 G 304 H 304 I 304 J 305 K 306 L 306 M 306 N 306 O 307 P 307 Q 307 R 307 S 308 T 308 U 308 V 309 W 309 Y 309 Z 309 This Book Examines Current Theories Of Institutional Change. The Chapters Highlight The Limitations Of These Theories. Instead A Model Emerges Of Contemporary Political Economies Developing In Incremental But Cumulatively Transformative Processes--provided By Publisher. Edited By Wolfgang Streeck And Kathleen Thelen. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.