Structure, History, and Behavior: The Reconstruction of Political Science by Historical Institutionalism

Author: He Junzhi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-12-01
Features: This book employs the historical and logical unification method used in Marxist historiography of thought and draws on relevant research findings from modern Western philosophy of science. It examines the academic value of historical institutionalism from the perspective of paradigm shifts in the development of political science. The book argues that the traditional paradigm of political science research, old institutionalism, is filled with internal contradictions. The behaviorist and rational choice theories that replaced it did not resolve these contradictions either. Historical institutionalism, on the other hand, incorporates certain technical methods from behaviorism and rational choice theory, revives institutional research within political science, alleviates its internal contradictions, and, through the establishment of a institutional perspective, provides a new theoretical analytical framework for contemporary political science research.