Remoulding the Critical Junctures Approach

Abstract

Abstract.This paper improves our understanding of critical junctures, a concept employed in historical institutionalism for exploring change. However, the concept lacks rigour, weakening our ability to define critical junctures. Of late, academics have utilized other mechanisms to identify change in historical institutionalism. Thus, it is within this context that the critical junctures approach is remoulded through the specification of standards, hence reducing uncertainty as to what constitutes a critical juncture. The remoulded approach is employed here in examining change in the Irish Congress of Trade Unions' (ICTU) influence over public policy in 1987.Résumé.Cet article permet de mieux comprendre le concept de conjoncture critique, qui est utilisé en institutionnalisme historique pour explorer le changement. Ce concept, en effet, manque de rigueur, si bien qu'il est difficile de définir les conjonctures critiques. Récemment, les théoriciens de l'institutionnalisme historique ont eu recours à d'autres mécanismes pour cerner le changement. C'est dans ce contexte que nous remanions la méthode des conjonctures critiques en établissant des normes de manière à pouvoir déterminer avec plus de certitude ce qui constitue une conjoncture critique. Nous employons cette méthode remaniée pour examiner l'évolution de l'influence de l'Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) sur les politiques publiques en 1987.

Path dependence and critical junctures: an urban-rural water sharing study

“…Krasner's [39] model, meanwhile, posits that institutional stability can be periodically "punctuated" by abrupt change, augmenting the notion of "punctuated equilibrium" developed by Kingdon [40] and Baumgartner and Jones [41]. So wide-spread is its applicability in research that the concept of critical junctures has been used to understanding the trajectories of national development in Latin America [42], to examining watersheds in American trade policy [43], to understanding the emergence of occupational welfare in Israel [44] (for extensive list see [45]). …”

“…Equally important is the lack of criteria to assess a critical juncture compared to change that takes place incrementally [45]. As Mahoney stated, where does one draw the line as to what is and what is not a critical juncture?…”

“…According to some, critical junctures have remained under examined and insufficiently specified [45]. As a result, the perspective from which critical junctures has been analyzed has varied greatly [45].…”

“…As a result, the perspective from which critical junctures has been analyzed has varied greatly [45]. For example, the duration of a critical juncture may involve a relatively short period of time, for others, an extended period; it can focus on the underlying cleavages or crisis that precipitated a critical juncture or it can concentrate on the critical juncture itself [45].…”

A comparative framework: How broadly applicable is a ‘rigorous’ critical junctures framework?

“…Hogan (2005;2006) sought to develop frameworks with greater rigour. But, all their efforts involved narrow, in many instances case specific, criteria, along with largely arbitrary standards.…”