Institutionalism as a Model for Political Analysis

The gravity point of Institutional analysis is emphasizing on the role of institutions as an independent variable in forming procedures and outcomes of individual and collective actions and social and political phenomena. Contemporary social sciences, due to the dominance of background-based approaches (in Sociology and Political Sciences) and quantity-based approaches (in Economics), didn’t give due attention to the analysis of institution variable status in forming social, economic and political phenomena. This article, first, attempts to introduce the institutional perspective in social and political analysis, and then introduces the internal reformations and varieties of this approach. The second purpose of this article is to show that historical institutionalism as a kind of neo- Institutionalism can develop an appropriate framework in integrating the Institutionalism and background-based approaches in political analysis, due to its dynamic viewpoint on the category of institutional change. According to this view, although different forms of institutions should be seen as independent variables in forming the social and political actors’ behaviors, these institutions are developed phenomena in the context of social and political historical disputes.