Historical Institutionalism as Method: Applications and Uses at the Micro, Meso, and Macro Levels of Analysis
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| From De Percy (2022). |
Below is an overview of my presentation today at the 8th Biennial ACSPRI Social Science Methodology Conference.
Abstract
Historical institutionalism is
one of the three New Institutionalisms. As a research method, the approach
typically involves archival research and semi-structured interviews - employing
the research techniques of both the historian and the political scientist - to
understand the impact of institutional legacies on the present. I have used
historical institutionalism to analyse industry policy over time for
cross-national comparisons of transport and telecommunications policies and
have found the approach effective at the meso-level of analysis. Recently, however,
I have applied this approach to the macro-level in geopolitics (to understand
institutional exhaustion), and I am currently developing a research project focused
on the micro-level to understand how institutions influence the development of
military doctrine through a case study of operational tactics. This
presentation will demonstrate the analysis of political phenomena over time,
drawing on my model of path-dependent, punctuated equilibrium. It will outline
how to recognise and analyse exogenous and endogenous critical junctures in
applying the model to temporal comparative and institutional studies. In doing
so, I will share some of the unique insights I have developed as both a
practitioner and an academic.
Presentation
Please see my slides below: