The Role of Ideas in Policy and Institutional Change: A Comparison of the Open Functional Approach, Constructivism and Discourse Theory

Political Studies, 2015

Posted: 5 Feb 2015 Last revised: 5 Jul 2016

See all articles by Anja Eleveld

Anja Eleveld

VU University Amsterdam - Faculty of Law

Date Written: 2015

Abstract

Most scholars engaged in ideational analysis agree that the availability of new ideas may cause existing welfare state policies and institutions to alter. In this paper I consider the extent to which, the open functional approach and constructivist approaches are able to explain the role of ideas in policy and institutional change. I argue that notwithstanding their contribution to the study of the role of ideas in policy and institutional changes, these approaches suffer from some shortcomings as they fail to view ideas as non-stable entities. In order to address these shortcomings, I develop an alternative poststructuralist discourse theoretical explanatory model. Applying this model to the case of the rise and fall of Dutch life course policy, I show how a discourse theoretical view on ideas as floating signifiers contributes to the study of the role of ideas in welfare state change..

Keywords: constructivism; discourse theory; David Howarth; open functional approach

Suggested Citation

Eleveld, Anja, The Role of Ideas in Policy and Institutional Change: A Comparison of the Open Functional Approach, Constructivism and Discourse Theory (2015). Political Studies, 2015, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2559733

Anja Eleveld (Contact Author)

VU University Amsterdam - Faculty of Law ( email )

De Boelelaan 1105
1081 HV Amsterdam
Netherlands

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