Wang Anshi's Historical Institutionalism Research On The New Law

This paper uses the gradual institutional change theory constructed by Thelen and Mahoney(2010)to explain why the new institutions with good intentions and perfect design introduced in the Wang Anshi Reformation had finally turned to the opposite of their ideal visions.The introduction to the article includes questions,literature reviews,research significance,and content arrangements.The second chapter introduces the analytical framework of the gradual mode of institutional change.Firstly,it points out that the gradual change theory is the latest development of the historical institutionalist theory.Then it introduces the causal chain of the theory: when the external environment changes,the current institution shows its incompatibility.This incompatibility is neither big enough to make the equilibrium completely collapse,which causes a breakage of institutional,nor so small that it will not affect the results.Then actors who loss their interests or pursue greater interests take actions to seek new institution effects under the existing informal arrangements.At this time,the different veto possibilities in the political system and the different discretionary space left by the institution itself will foster different types of actors,and they will promote institutional changes to develop in a specific pattern.The third chapter uses this framework to analyze how the Institution of Hiring Labor Service,Green Sprouts Policy and The Institution of Market Balancing introduced by Wang Anshi have undergone gradual changes in the implementation process,that is,how the initial institutional arrangements are distorted,and the good intentions contained therein was betrayed.The fourth chapter makes an empirical and theoretical reflection on this case and the gradual institutional change framework.It concludes that the political power structure under the political system of the Northern Song Dynasty is the root cause of the distortion of Wang Anshi's new law.Finally it discusses the applicability of the theoretical framework.