ABSTRACT
The ‘new institutionalism’, and in particular, the branch of the new institutionalism known as ‘historical institutionalism’ has not only influenced the study of West European politics, but indeed, in some respects, this approach emerged out of the study of West European politics itself. As the editors point out in the introduction to this volume, the field of West European politics in the founding days of West European Politics was very much concerned with the institutions of West European politics. In contrast to a much earlier generation’s concern with institutions in the inter-war period – that termed ‘formalist’ in the field of domestic politics, and ‘idealist’ in the field of international politics – the focus of the new generation of West Europeanists was not in the main on formal political institutions, such as constitutions, but on institutions understood as the informal rules of the game, organisational patterns of political behaviour, and organisational structures both within and outside of government.
