chapter 6
...................................................................................................................................................OLD
INSTITUTIONALISMS
...................................................................................................................................................r. a. w. rhodes
1Introduction
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Over the past decade, the narrative of the ‘‘new institutionalism’’ has been touted as
the new paradigm for political science. For example, Goodin and Klingemann
( 1996 ) claim that political science has an overarching intellectual agenda based on
rational choice analysis and the new institutionalism. That is one set of approaches,
one research agenda, and speciWc to American political science. The focus of this
chapter is broader; it looks at the study of political institutions, whenever,
wherever. I deWne and give examples of four diVerent traditions in the study of
political institutions: modernist-empiricist, formal-legal, idealist, and socialist. My
aims are simple: to show there are several long-standing traditions in the study of
institutions in the Anglo-American world, and to illustrate that variety worldwide.
I have a second, equally important objective. It is a taken for granted assumption
that the rise of the ‘‘new institutionalism’’ replaced the ‘‘old institutionalism.’’ Old
institutionalism is not limited to formal-legal analysis. It encompasses all the
- I would like to thank Haleh Afsher, Mark Bevir, John Dryzek, Jenny Fleming, Bob Goodin, and John
Wanna for either help, or advice, or criticism, and sometimes all three. I must record a special thank
you to Robert Elgie for his thorough and detailed advice on French political science (personal
correspondence, 6 June and 20 July 2005 ).