Explanations of Institutional Change: Reflecting on a “Missing Diagonal”

Abstract

Previous research on institutional change has concentrated on two types of explanations. On one hand, the dualism of path dependency and critical junctures has advanced our understanding of how institutional change occurs due to sudden exogenous shocks. On the other hand, more recent critiques have established a better understanding of endogenous, gradual change. This article is motivated by observations that current research tends to overlook what I call the “missing diagonal.” I argue that we need to disentangle the sources of a cause (exogenous vs. endogenous) from its time horizon (sudden vs. gradual). By cross-tabulating these two dimensions, the proposed typology of institutional change explanations is able to capture complex multilayered as well as sequential arguments of institutional change. The typology urges scholars to be more precise with their social science language of erosion and decay, while serving as a generator for an innovative research agenda on endogenous ruptures.

COVID‐19 and Policy Responses by International Organizations: Crisis of Liberal International Order or Window of Opportunity?

“…The purpose is not to assess the effectiveness of IOs, but rather to examine whether IOs proactively used this exogenous shock as an opportunity to expand their activities during the first wave between March and June 2020. Even though the COVID‐19 crisis continues to date, we assume that the initial responses of IOs were essential because critical junctures are brief moments in time and future developments with regard to legalization of policy expansions are likely path dependent on these initial responses (Gerschewski, 2021 ; Pierson, 2000 ). There are also first‐mover advantages that affect how global governance gets reordered.…”

“…Crises are commonly considered important moments in organizational history because they offer opportunities to change organizational processes (Boin et al, 2016 ). Punctuated equilibrium theory (PET), in particular, focuses on institutional change as a result of an exogenous shock with a short‐term time horizon (Gerschewski, 2021 ). This makes COVID‐19 an excellent test case, since it is clearly exogenous and required an immediate response by many IOs.…”

“…COVID‐19 will, of course, also have longer‐term consequences. Yet in the short‐term, exogenous shocks have the potential to set institutions on a new track, or can also simply represent opportunities to change direction and branch out from an original path (Gerschewski, 2021 ; see also on PET: Baumgartner and Jones, 1993 , Colgan et al, 2012 ; Lundgren et al, 2018 ). Thus, choices made by IOs, during the brief initial window after COVID‐19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020, can induce self‐reinforcing processes and canalize future developments down a new path.…”

Intergovernmental policy opportunities for childhood obesity prevention in Australia: Perspectives from senior officials

“…These new FSANZ priorities highlight an example of institutional ‘polarised pluralism’ with Coalition/Liberal national/some state governments on one side and Labor states on the other side, causing a ‘centre-fleeing haemorrhage’ [ 82 ], resulting in two contradictory institutional priorities being established. While Priority 3 has an institutional procedure in line with New Public Management (i.e.…”

Distorted policy transfer and institutional conflicts: the health insurance reform in South Korea

“…Thus, such a change in the institutional context can open tremendous space for institutional battles and reinterpretations, which are often vastly different from the intentions of relatively weakened institutional creators (Conran and Thelen, 2016: 57). However, shifts in economic and political contexts do not always abruptly drive radical changes; gradual changes are often mediated by political agents' ideas and perceptions (Gerschewski, 2021). Interactions between a series of events such as democratization, regime change, and crisis of movements and the agents' own reflections and deliberations often accumulate to gradually and significantly transform the political contexts of institutions and the power relationship between social actors.…”