Social science in general and political science in particular have been resistant to the mobilization of evolutionary and specifically Darwinian ideas for analytic and explanatory purposes. This paper documents a disconnect between political scientists and standard evolutionary theory. Historical institutionalism is identified as a subfield particularly well-suited, but presently ill-equipped, ...

Political and economic internationalization and globalization, the rise of sub-national self-governing regions and spheres, governance replacing government and many related processes change the role and context of the nation-state, the protector of mass democracy. The concept of (substantive) representation, representation as ‘acting for,’ can help develop answers to the threat that this ‘loss ...

Abstract This introduction presents the theoretical framework, aims, and summary of this special issue. We want to explain European Union’s (EU) response COVID crisis from a ‘polity perspective’ (Kriesi 2021; Ferrera 2005). conceptualize EU as compound ‘experimental’ polity which develops along three dimensions: binding (capacity building sovereignty), bounding (bordering), bonding (solidarity ...

After Independence the policymaking elite in India launched a project of economic development with a heavy involvement of the state and a democratic polity. In the first three decades since then, in the 50's, 60's and 70's, there were many successes and at least as many failures of this developmental project. In terms of economic success, this particular project led to the foundation of a compl...

As institutions and governance structures develop in modern markets, they tend to “feed back” onto economic activity. Through such feedback loops, market and political arenas can develop symbiotically into relatively coherent “fields” that gradually embed actors’ orientations and activities. Using these insights, this article develops and tests a theory of European integration focusing on the c...

Many community decision-making bodies encounter challenges in creating conditions where stakeholders from disadvantaged populations can authentically participate in ways that give them actual influence over decisions affecting their lives (Foster-Fishman et al., Lessons for the journey: Strategies and suggestions for guiding planning, governance, and sustainability in comprehensive community in...