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From settled paths to Chines whispers: Institutions, instability, and EU defence policy

Menon, Anand. (2009) From settled paths to Chines whispers: Institutions, instability, and EU defence policy. In: UNSPECIFIED. (Unpublished)

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    Abstract

    Institutionalist theories of politics emphasise the role institutions play in inducing stability. The Institutionalist lexicon is replete with terms such as ‘path dependence’ and ‘lock-in,’ intended to convey resistance to change. Insofar as institutionalists do address change, they do so in terms of sporadic moments of dramatic change brought about by factors exogenous to their theoretical framework. The paper challenges such claims, on the basis of a study of the development of the European Union’s security policies. It proposes an Institutionalist approach to explaining institutional change arguing that under certain conditions, institutional change can be both continuous and highly significant. Consequently, the metaphor of ‘Chinese whispers’ better captures the nature of repeated, incremental and often off path institutional development than that of path dependence.

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    Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
    Subjects for non-EU documents: Other > integration theory (see also researching and writing the EU in this section)
    EU policies and themes > External relations > common foreign & security policy 1993--European Global Strategy
    Countries > China
    Subjects for EU documents: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Series and Periodicals: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Annual Reports: UNSPECIFIED
    Conference: European Union Studies Association (EUSA) > Biennial Conference > 2009 (11th), April 23-25, 2009
    Depositing User: Phil Wilkin
    Official EU Document: No
    Language: English
    Date Deposited: 12 May 2012 16:57
    Number of Pages: 24
    Last Modified: 12 May 2012 16:57
    URI: http://aei.pitt.edu/id/eprint/33111

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