Revisiting historical institutionalism: From policy feedback to the role of ideas and back

Daniel Béland

Stato e mercato, 2025, issue 1, 25-46

Abstract: Historical institutionalism has made a strong contribution to public policy research, including the study of welfare state development, retrenchment, and restructuring. Three decades after the crystallization of historical institutionalism as an approach, it seems appropriate to look back at its contribution to social policy research and to reconsider some of its core components. In this paper, I provide a critical discussion of two key aspects of the historical institutionalist literature: policy feedback and the role of ideas. I then explore their potential interactions through the formulation of a research agenda for social policy scholars. As argued, bringing together the insights from both policy feedback research and ideational research can improve our understanding of policy stability and change while providing a more subtle understanding of the relationship between ideational and institutional processes in social policy research and beyond.

Keywords: Historical Institutional Evolutionary; Institutions: Design Formation Operations and Impact; Capitalist Institutions Welfare State (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mul:jl9ury:doi:10.1425/117151:y:2025:i:1:p:25-46

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