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

Author: He Junzhi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
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 studies 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 full of internal contradictions. The behavioralism and rational choice theory that replaced it did not resolve these contradictions either. Historical institutionalism, on the other hand, incorporates certain technical methods from behavioralism and rational choice theory, revives institutional research within political science, alleviates its internal contradictions, and establishes a new theoretical analytical perspective for contemporary political science research through the institutional perspective.