caa a22 4500 388051329 CHVBK 20180307125054.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130s1998 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1162/002081898550699 doi S0020818398440505 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1162/002081898550699 The Institutional Dynamics of International Political Orders [Elektronische Daten] The history of international political orders is written in terms of continuity and change in domestic and international political relations. As a step toward understanding such continuity and change, we explore some ideas drawn from an institutional perspective. An institutional perspective is characterized in terms of two grand issues that divide students of international relations and other organized systems. The first issue concerns the basic logic of action by which human behavior is shaped. On the one side are those who see action as driven by a logic of anticipated consequences and prior preferences. On the other side are those who see action as driven by a logic of appropriateness and a sense of identity. The second issue concerns the efficiency of history. On the one side are those who see history as efficient in the sense that it follows a course leading to a unique equilibrium dictated by exogenously determined interests, identities, and resources. On the other side are those who see history as inefficient in the sense that it follows a meandering, path-dependent course distinguished by multiple equilibria and endogenous transformations of interests, identities, and resources. We argue that the tendency of students of international political order to emphasize efficient histories and consequential bases for action leads them to underestimate the significance of rule- and identity-based action and inefficient histories. We illustrate such an institutional perspective by considering some features of the coevolution of politics and institutions, particularly the ways in which engagement in political activities affects the definition and elaboration of political identities and the development of competence in politics and the capabilities of political institutions. Copyright © The IO Foundation 1998 March James G. Olsen Johan P. International Organization Cambridge University Press 52/4(1998), 943-969 0020-8183 52:4<943 1998 52 INO https://doi.org/10.1162/002081898550699 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1162/002081898550699 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- March James G. NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Olsen Johan P. NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- International Organization Cambridge University Press 52/4(1998), 943-969 0020-8183 52:4<943 1998 52 INO CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge