Political Institutions and Social Power: Conceptual Explorations (2006)

Abstract

The term “institution” is one of the most frequently used and, at the same time, most rarely defined in the social sciences. Social scientists relate to the theoreti- cal concept of institution as ordinary people relate to some established institution: They take the meaning for granted and proceed to make use of it. The question that I want to focus on here concerns the implications of institutions for the genera- tion, distribution, exercise, and control of social power. The question can be elab- orated with the help of a quote from Sven Steinmo, one of the initiators1 of the research program of “historical institutionalism.” Steinmo writes: “Institutions de- fine the rules of the political game and as such they define who can play and how they play … [institutions] can shape who wins and who loses.”2 If we replace in this sentence the term “institutions” with the word “power” or “holders of social power,” the meaning remains virtually the same. “Institutions” and “power,” it seems, are being used almost interchangeably. But that cannot be right, as “holders of power” are clearly actors, while institutions are not. What I want to explore here are the mechanisms through which institutions affect the dis- tribution of social power among actors and are, in a circular way, themselves the result