Power and Convergent Institutional Change

Abstract

This article advances a mechanism-based framework for episodes of institutional change that are abrupt yet convergent across cases. Building on the idea that institutions are embedded in power relations, the article distinguishes two logics linking shifts in power to rapid change and clarifying why institutional trajectories may sometimes align or diverge across cases. The first is the familiar disruption logic of critical junctures, where loosened constraints raise contingency. The second, focal junctures, captures moments when power asymmetries and interdependence compress the feasible set, steering actors toward similar institutional choices. We specify scope conditions and observable implications, and illustrate the approach with two empirical sketches: Latin American structural reforms during the debt-crisis era and global tax-structure convergence under financial globalization. Together, the cases show how power configurations generate rapid convergence across cases in key policy domains.