New Structuralism and Institutional Change

Federalism Between Centralization and Decentralization

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6246797
AutoresJan Erk (0000-0003-3163-4105, University of Leiden, the Netherlands,), E A Koning (0000-0001-5148-8331, Queen's University), Edward Koning (Queen's University, Kingston, Canada)
Año2010
Volumen43
Número3
Páginas353-378
Fecha de publicación2010-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaComparative Political Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0010-4140 • E-ISSN: 1552-3829
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0010414009332143
OpenAlexW2017533488
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas37
Referencias citadas55

This article aims to contribute to the debate on institutional change by introducing social structure as the basis for theorizing about the direction of such change. The empirical context is the long-term trends of federal institutional change in the federations of the industrialized West (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States). It is the authors’ contention that institutions change in order to reach a better fit with the underlying linguistic structure. The direction for institutional change in federal systems with territorially based linguistic heterogeneity is decentralizing, for homogeneous ones the direction is centralizing. The argument is based on the growing importance of language as the provider of democratic space. It is through the less formalized interest group politics that the underlying linguistic base finds its way into influencing the direction of institutional change

Argument (complex analysis · Context (archaeology · Decentralization · Democracy · Economic geography · Economic system · Economics · Epistemology · Federalism · Geography · Institutional change · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Regional science · Sociology · Structuralism (philosophy of science · European Union Policy and Governance · Law · Political Systems and Governance · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies