ABSTRACT
The research project focused on two issues of fundamental interest to institutional analysis – processes of institutional origin/change and the relationship between institutions and behaviour. It applied an institutional approach to analyse the context within which port modernisation reforms occurred and the role of relevant actors (individuals and groups) in influencing the process and outcomes of institutional change. This section, first, clarifies relevant definitions before briefly discussing the mechanisms for institutional change and the actors involved in the process. Next, it briefly considers three analytical approaches to institutions: historical institutionalism, rational choice institutionalism and sociological institutionalism. It explains why the research project took a historical institutional approach, but found great value in borrowing from analytic narratives and the logic of collective action model (approaches more closely linked to the rational choice approach).
