Abstract
This chapter makes a critical assessment of how different versions of new institutionalism understand and conceptualize agency. We argue that they lack a more nuanced understanding of human agency and how it relates to institutions. We further argue for the need to take political agency seriously, to perceive institutional change and stability as being stimulated by both endogenous and exogenous forces, and to recognize that transformative effects can follow from gradual change. We make a theoretical positioning on how to perceive agency in new institutionalism in a more political sense by acknowledging the relevance of both combative action and social adaptation. Thus, it is an argument of consolidating political and sociological ideas and of up-grading political discourse in institutional theory.
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Hysing, E., Olsson, J. (2018). New Political Institutionalism. In: Green Inside Activism for Sustainable Development. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56723-5_2
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