POLI 243 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Hegemony, Security Studies, Comparative Politics
24 Dec 2012
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Document Summary
Institutionalism was inspired by ipe scholars" work on international regimes ( a set of prescriptions and proscriptions for state behaviour ). Realists explained institutions as an outcome of an exercise of power that is, exercised by a hegemonic power for its own benefit and that once power was decentralized, institutions would collapse or weaken. However, even as the us declined relative to western europe and japan in the 1980s, international regimes remained. Core assumptions of rationalist institutionalism: actors are self-interested, rational utility maximizers, international regimes can facilitate the making of agreements by actors, actors are interested in the pursuit of goals which are not always zero- sum in nature. Keokane drew on literature on domestic institutions, arguing that institutions providing benefits to its members would remain even absent a hegemon. This is because the participants themselves will have an interest in maintaining the institution. Thus, rationalist institutionalism explains institutions by viewing them as mechanisms for actors.
