Abstract
While the concepts of policy paradigms and paradigmatic change now range freely through the policy literature, one of the most influential contributions to the currency of the paradigm and related concepts is that of Hall (1993). This is not to say that Hall invented the idea of transferring Kuhn’s (1970) original ideas from the sociology of science to politics and policy. Scattered references are found much earlier, for example in Manning (1976, pp. 26–7), where the succession of dominant ideologies is treated as an example of paradigm shifts. Nonetheless, for modern policy studies, Hall (1993) is the canonical reference. This chapter explores the connection between the contemporary debates about policy paradigms and the tradition in which Hall (1993) was written, namely neo-institutionalism. It is argued that much of the value of the concept, together with some of the unresolved problems and ambiguities surrounding its use, can be traced to its origins in the new institutionalism and the debates around variant “institutionalisms”. By returning to these debates, we get a better picture of both the strengths and the weaknesses of the idea of policy paradigm.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Béland, D. (2009). Ideas, Institutions and Policy Change. Journal of European Public Policy, 16(5), 701–18.
Béland, D., & Cox, R. H. (Eds.). (2010). Ideas and Politics in Social Science Research. New York: Oxford University Press.
Bennett, C. J., & Howlett, M. (1992). The Lessons of Learning: Reconciling Theories of Policy Learning and Policy Change. Policy Sciences, 25(3), 275–94.
Berman, S. (2012). Ideational Theorizing in the Social Sciences since “Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State”. Governance, 26(2), 217–37.
Blyth, M. (2002). The Great Transformations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Campbell, J. L. (2004). Institutional Change and Globalization. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Casado-Asensio, J., & Steurer, R. (2013). Integrated Strategies on Sustainable Development, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Western Europe: Communication Rather Than Coordination. Journal of Public Policy, 34(3), 437–73.
Cashore, B., & Howlett, M. (2007). Punctuating Which Equilibrium? Understanding Thermostatic Policy Dynamics in Pacific Northwest Forestry. American Journal of Political Science, 51(3), 532–51.
Dunlop, C. A., & Radaelli, C. M. (2012). Systematizing Policy Learning: From Monolith to Dimensions. Political Studies, 61(3), 599–619.
Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in Ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Hacker, J. S. (2004). Privatizing Risk without Privatizing the Welfare State: The Hidden Politics of Social Policy Retrenchment in the United States. American Political Science Review, 98(2), 243–60.
Hall, P. A. (1993). Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State: The Case of Economic Policy Making in Britain. Comparative Politics, 25(3), 275–96.
Hall, P. A. (2013). Brother, Can You Paradigm? Governance, 26(2), 189–92.
Hall, P. A., & Taylor, R. C. R. (1996). Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms. Political Studies, 44(5), 936–57.
Hay, C. (1996). Narrating Crisis: The Discursive Construction of the “Winter of Discontent.” Sociology, 30(2), 253–77.
Hay, C. (1999). Crisis and the Structural Transformation of the State: Interrogating the Process of Change. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 1(3), 317–44.
Hay, C. (2004). Ideas, Interests and Institutions in the Comparative Political Economy of Great Transformations. Review of International Political Economy, 11(1), 204–26.
Hay, C. (2008). Constructivist Institutionalism. In B. Rockman, R. Rhodes, & S. Binder (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions (pp. 56–74). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hay, C. (2010). Chronicles of a Death Foretold: The Winter of Discontent and Construction of the Crisis of British Keynesianism. Parliamentary Affairs, 63(3), 446–70.
Hay, C. (2011). Interpreting Interpretivism Interpreting Interpretations: The New Hermeneutics of Public Administration. Public Administration, 89(1), 167–82.
Hay, C., & Wincott, D. (1998). Structure, Agency and Historical Institutionalism. Political Studies, 46(5), 951–7.
Jobert, B. (1989). The Normative Frameworks of Public Policy. Political Studies, 37(3), 376–86.
Kingdon, J. (1984). Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies. New York: Longman.
Kuhn, T. A. (1970). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Majone, G. (1989). Evidence, Argument, and Persuasion in the Policy Process. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Manning, D. J. (1976). Liberalism. London: St. Martin’s Press.
March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (1984). The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life. American Political Science Review, 78(3), 734–49.
March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (1989). Rediscovering Institutions: The Organizational Basis of Political Life. New York: Free Press.
Mehta, J. (2013). How Paradigms Create Politics: The Transformation of American Educational Policy, 1980–2001. American Educational Research Journal, 52(2), 285–324.
Pierson, P. (2000). Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics. American Political Science Review, 94(2), 251–67.
Rockman, B. A., Rhodes, R. A. W., & Binder, S. (Eds.). (2008). The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schmidt, V. A. (2008a). Discursive Institutionalism: The Explanatory Power of Ideas and Discourse. Annual Review of Political Science, 11(1), 303–26.
Schmidt, V. A. (2008b). From Historical Institutionalism to Discursive Institutionalism: Explaining Change in Comparative Political Economy. Paper presented at the American Political Science Association Annual Meetings, Boston, August 2008.
Schmidt, V. A. (2010). Taking Ideas and Discourse Seriously: Explaining Change through Discursive Institutionalism as the Fourth “New Institutionalism”. European Political Science Review, 2(1), 1–25.
Schmidt, V. A. (2011). Speaking of Change: Why Discourse Is the Key to the Dynamics of Policy Transformation. Critical Policy Studies, 5(2), 106–26.
Schmidt, V. A., & Radaelli, C. M. (2004). Policy Change and Discourse in Europe: Conceptual and Methodological Issues. West European Politics, 27(2), 183–210.
Schoen, D. A., & Rein, M. (1994). Frame Reflection: Toward the Resolution of Intractable Policy Controversies. New York: Basic Books.
Shpaizman, I. (2014). Ideas and Institutional Conversion through Layering: The Case of Israeli Immigration Policy. Public Administration, 92(4), 1038–53.
Skogstad, G., & Schmidt, V. A. (2011). Introduction: Policy Paradigms, Transnationalism and Domestic Politics. In G. Skogstad (Ed.), Policy Paradigms, Transnationalism and Domestic Politics (pp. 3–35). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Thelen, K., & Steinmo, S. (1992). Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics. In S. Steinmo, K. Thelen, & F. Longstreth (Eds.), Structuring Politics: Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Analysis (pp. 1–32). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2015 Jeremy Rayner
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rayner, J. (2015). Is There a Fourth Institutionalism? Ideas, Institutions and the Explanation of Policy Change. In: Hogan, J., Howlett, M. (eds) Policy Paradigms in Theory and Practice. Studies in the Political Economy of Public Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137434043_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137434043_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-56900-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-43404-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Intern. Relations & Development CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)