IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/amposc/v59y2015i2p341-356.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Explaining Institutional Change: Policy Areas, Outside Options, and the Bretton Woods Institutions

Author

Listed:
  • Phillip Y. Lipscy

Abstract

I propose and test a theoretical framework that explains institutional change in international relations. Like firms in markets, international institutions are affected by the underlying characteristics of their policy areas. Some policy areas are prone to produce institutions facing relatively little competition, limiting the outside options of member states and impeding redistributive change. In comparison, institutions facing severe competition will quickly reflect changes in underlying state interests and power. To test the theory empirically, I exploit common features of the Bretton Woods institutions—the International Monetary Fund and World Bank—to isolate the effect of variation in policy area characteristics. The empirical tests show that, despite having identical membership and internal rules, bargaining outcomes in the Bretton Woods institutions have diverged sharply and in accordance with the theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Phillip Y. Lipscy, 2015. "Explaining Institutional Change: Policy Areas, Outside Options, and the Bretton Woods Institutions," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 59(2), pages 341-356, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:59:y:2015:i:2:p:341-356
    DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12130
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12130
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ajps.12130?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Justus Dreyling, 2021. "Institutional Complexity and Opportunity Structures: Weaker Actor Influence in International Intellectual Property Regulation," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 12(S4), pages 37-46, May.
    2. Phillip Y. Lipscy, 2020. "How Do States Renegotiate International Institutions? Japan’s Renegotiation Diplomacy Since World War II," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 11(S3), pages 17-27, October.
    3. Alexander Kentikelenis & Erik Voeten, 2021. "Legitimacy challenges to the liberal world order: Evidence from United Nations speeches, 1970–2018," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 721-754, October.
    4. Matias E. Margulis, 2023. "Backdoor Bargaining: How the European Union Navigates the Food Aid Regime Complex," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(2), pages 29-38.
    5. Stephen Craig Nelson, 2016. "Ayse Kaya. 2015. Power and Global Economic Institutions," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 523-527, December.
    6. Ala, Alessandro S. & Lapsley, Irvine, 2019. "Accounting for crime in the neoliberal world," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(5).
    7. Alexander Thompson, 2020. "Emerging Powers and Differentiation in Global Climate Institutions," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 11(S3), pages 61-72, October.
    8. Henning Schmidtke, 2019. "Elite legitimation and delegitimation of international organizations in the media: Patterns and explanations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 633-659, December.
    9. Klaus H. Goetz & Ronny Patz & Eugénia Heldt & Henning Schmidtke, 2017. "Measuring the Empowerment of International Organizations: The Evolution of Financial and Staff Capabilities," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8(s5), pages 51-61, August.
    10. repec:bla:glopol:v:8:y:2017:i::p:51-61 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Kenneth W. Abbott & Benjamin Faude, 2022. "Hybrid institutional complexes in global governance," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 263-291, April.
    12. Abbott, Kenneth W. & Faude, Benjamin, 2022. "Hybrid institutional complexes in global governance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 109882, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Stephen, Matthew D., 2020. "China's new multilateral institutions: A framework and research agenda," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Global Governance SP IV 2020-102, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:59:y:2015:i:2:p:341-356. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1540-5907 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.