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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 April 2012
In response to the call for more investigation on ‘institutional dynamism’, this article examines the role of power and accidents in causing institutional changes, employing the theoretical perspective of historical institutionalism. The impact of two ‘accidents’ (epidemics) on the institutional setting of a hospital in Hong Kong under different power contexts (changes of political sovereignty) is analysed as a case study. The finding is that power matters more than accidents. This is not to deny the importance of accidents. Accidents matter because they produce windows of opportunity for institutional changes to take place. Through political manoeuvres powerful actors may decide which accidents should cause change.
Contribuant au développement actuel des recherches sur «le dynamisme institutionnel», cet article étudie le rôle du pouvoir et des accidents conjoncturels dans les changements institutionnels, prenant l'institutionnalisme historique pour point de départ méthodologique. L'impact de deux «accidents» (en l'occurrence des épidémies), sur la structure institutionnelle d'un hôpital de Hong-Kong, dans des contextes de pouvoir différents (correspondant ici à des changements de souveraineté politique) est analysé comme étude de cas. Il en ressort que le pouvoir importe beaucoup plus que les accidents conjoncturels. Ce constat ne doit pas cependant conduire à nier le rôle des accidents: ils importent parce qu'ils créent des occasions imprévues de changements institutionnels. Par leurs manoeuvres politiques, les acteurs qui disposent du pouvoir sont à même de choisir quels accidents sont susceptibles de provoquer quelque changement.
Dieser Beitrag kommt dem Verlangen nach mehr Forschung über “institutionellen Dynamismus” nach und fragt – aus der theoretischen Perspektive des historischen Institutionalismus – nach der Rolle von Macht und Unfällen als Ursachen für den institutionellen Wandel. In einer Fallstudie wird der Einfluss zweier “Unfälle” (Epidemien) auf die institutionelle Ausrichtung eines Krankenhauses in Hong Kong in unterschiedlichen Machtkontexten (Änderungen der politischen Souveränität) untersucht. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass Macht eine größere Rolle spielt als Unfälle. Damit soll die Bedeutung von Unfällen allerdings nicht in Abrede gestellt werden. Unfälle sind wichtig, weil sie neue Möglichkeiten eröffnen, um institutionelle Veränderungen in Gang zu bringen. Durch politische Manöver können mächtige Akteure darüber entscheiden, welche Unfälle zu Veränderungen führen sollen.
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86 Capoccia and Kelemen, ‘The study of critical junctures’.