Carts and Horses, Institutes and Practices. Varieties of Sequencing and Outcomes of Political Transitions

The paper deals with sequencing in political transitions of states, modes of governance and regimes. The transformations of states, modes of governance, regimes and political set-ups of groups and individual significantly differ in temporal, spatial and structural dimensions. Transformation of a well-established state may get visible only in a course of a decades or even centuries, a mode governance is far more dynamic albeit resilient in its core and regime change may turn hasty. In times of crisis transformations may sweep over entire countries in a matter of hours. A new state may be established, a form of governance proclaimed or a new regime crop up hastily in virtually one single performative act. The question is if the actual transformation can be reduced to a single performative act or it takes longer time. Distinction between thick and thin institutions helps to explore the issue. Large scale institutions are typically thin. They are infused or ‘saturated’ by smaller institutions or even everyday practices. Alternative reform strategies are possible. The buoyant ones radical thin institutions imposed from above either by dominant reformer or revolutionary authority. They fully trust novel quality of the implanted thin institutions in the hope that they would ‘naturally’ attract adequate saturation. More pragmatic and self-confident strategies of enforced reforms count on further imposition of ample rules and modes of administration. Some strategies rely on compromise in the hope that in the long run even conservative practices can be reshaped by the dominant institutions. Finally, there are strategies of saturation of the existing institution by novel practices from below. The paper compares results of a number of attempts to reform states and modes of governance. It is claimed that sequencing of institutions and practices is crucial. Thin institutions imposed from above would work only in the cases when saturating potential of novel political practices is available albeit in nascent forms. It is equally crucial to combine alternative strategies in a kind Polanyan double movement.