Punctuated Equilibrium in the Regime Complex of International Development Cooperation

Abstract

In the past, International Development Cooperation (IDC) was an analogue for Official Development Assistance (ODA) in which three central institutions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (DAC/OECD) regulated the practices of donors and recipients. Recently, a far more complex and diversified scenario characterized by new actors and approaches is replacing this architecture. This paper analyses the transformations in the IDC field, interpreting these processes through an analytical framework of the sources of institutional change. One of its principal contributions is highlighting a pattern of “punctuated equilibrium” through a theory-guided historical analysis, that reflects both periods of stasis and innovation instead of a gradual process of change. We argue that innovation depends on dissatisfaction and shocks, and that the nature of invention depends on a homogeneity of interests among its prominent actors. This paper is based on a research agenda that applies the punctuated equilibrium concept of social theory to the analysis of international regime complexes.