Contemporary Democratic Institutions Exam 1 Study Guide This is a combination of Ms Driscoll s notes our book and online readings 1 Behavioral Revolution this was the intellectual reaction to Old institutionalism that placed an emphasis on real politics political behavior statistical analysis and hard data public opinion polls voting behavior party competition etc 2 Old institutionalism focus mostly on legalism formal rules and documentation of procedures spurred the behavioral revolution and social choice a Pros thick description nuance b Cons comparisons are difficult too much nuance overtly legalistic and sociological and formalistic 3 Characterize approach and identify limitations a Rational choice institutionalism b Historical institutionalism i Approach is aimed at producing parsimonious statements of social processes in order to generate testable hypothesis and falsifiable theories within explicit scope conditions the unit of analysis is individual actors ii Objective to devise a model of human behavior iii Limitations It assumes that individuals are rational act intentionally operate in an external environment have preferences and have beliefs about the state of the world Criticisms we aren t rational we don t maximize payoffs we re not calculators i Approach is to acknowledge institutions to be socially constructed malleable and the product of path dependence ii Objective to understand the process by which institutions come about how they are perpetuated how they influence member s goals actions and the collective organization culture iii Limitations Does not provide obvious opportunity for the generation of falsifiable hypotheses fails to consider multiple cases limits generalizability considers everything at once causal mechanisms are difficult to identify c RCI vs HI i RCI Deductive founded on abstraction analytical rigor simplification and insistence on clean lines of analysis and basic axions ii HI Dense empirical description and inductive reasoning 4 RCI and structured institutions Shepsle notes that RCI is most successful in structured institutions for the following reasons Individuals are a natural object to study a b Preferences and motivations can be specified with some precision c d Outcomes are clearly implied by configuration of rules e Payoffs and utility are easy to infer Individuals operate in structured environments 5 Utility it is maximized by picking the actor s top preference 6 Preferences wants desires motivations exogenous taken as given outside the model must satisfy 2 criteria a Complete the actor prefers option X to Y option Y to X or id indifferent between them they are comparable in the actor s mind b Transitive if 1 prefers X to Y and prefers Y to Z then they prefer X to Z or is indifferent between them c When individual s preferences are both complete and transitive they can be ordered 7 Normative describing or relating to a standard or social norm 8 Empirical knowledge or information that is gained by observing or experimenting 9 Exogenous taken as given outside the model external 10 Endogenous inside the model individual internal 11 Path dependence self reinforcing positive dynamics in the political process aka the decisions you make today are shaped by decisions you made yesterday 12 Critical juncture a critical moment in time defines the trajectory for future sequence 13 Equifinality the possibility that two causal processes will arrive at the same outcome via different routes 14 Parchment institutions institutions written on paper Carey introduced these They are formal regulations rules and protocol that are written down The act of writing things down creates mutual expectations for behavior 15 neither necessary nor sufficient Carey thought that parchment was neither necessary or sufficient for an institution have y a Necessary if x is necessary for us to have y then if we don t have x we won t b Sufficient if x is sufficient to have y we know that if we have x we must have y 16 Coordination games and institutions Carey a They highlight i multiple equilibria are possible ii moving across equilibria iii iv the institutional origins and change contentious institutions communicate to come up mutually held expectations 17 Coordination with conflict Carey with both players prefer to partake in an activity with the other person rather than doing the activity alone they coordinate but what they each want to do differs 18 Deductive and Inductive inference and associated steps with each a Deductive approach Rational Choice institutionalism you start with the theory and then move to hypothesis observation and confirmation or refutation b Inductive approach Historical institutionalism starts with observation then moves to pattern hypothesis and ends with a theory 19 Adoption of Argentine gender quotas Question why would Argentine legislators nearly all of whom were men adopt a gender quota that would put them at risk for losing their seat if implemented a Deductive and inductive approaches this deals with whether the hypothesis came first or the theory 20 Rationality assumption of rationality individuals are rational they act intentionally this was adopted as an analytical assumption in order to connect purposeful actors to their actions assumes that individuals have preferences operate in an external environment and have beliefs about the state of the world 21 Methodological individualism a theory about social phenomena that shows how the relationship between society and individuals the individual is the basic unit of analysis it is taken as fundamental that individuals hold preferences and beliefs 22 MI and institutions rational choice institutionalism aims to devise a model of human behavior MI is used because its unit of analysis is individual actors 23 Beliefs and uncertainty what you think about the world a Uncertainty people are unsure about how their choices will influence the outcome 24 Self interestedness actors will do what gives them the most utility 25 Assumptions reducing variables simplifications they are clearly stated 26 External environment the idea that individuals operate in an external environment is one of the assumptions of rationality it implies everything other than the actor a Constraints institutions Incentives etc b It is exogenous to the model c 27 Expected utility what the actor expects to gain from making a decision 28 Maximizing behavior choosing the preference that the actor expects to 29 Table 4 1 Shepsle p 58