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This article argues that historical institutionalism has bifurcated into two competing accounts: one focused on institutional stasis and the other on change. A more encompassing theory that accounts for both processes is constructed using a more detailed account of agency – one that utilises key inputs from cognitive and social psychology. This can better account for the conditions under which institutional constraint or change occurs and is used to explain the variable behaviour of bankers in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.

Este artigo oferece uma breve história pessoal de envolvimento com os campos da geografia histórica e da história ambiental. Organizado em três seções, trabalhando do passado ao presente, a primeira parte reflete, principalmente, sobre as ideias de investigação obtidas quando ainda estudante. A preocupação com a história das ideias sobre o uso da terra brasileira levou a um interesse no importante trabalho do geógrafo alemão Leo Waibel (1888-1951) sobre os trópicos, e mais especialmente o Brasil. A segunda parte do ensaio relata a recente pesquisa internacional sobre Waibel. Algumas correntes intelectuais Interamericanas da carreira de Waibel são exploradas pela primeira vez, incluindo a sua preocupação presciente de 1939 para mapear "as consequências catastróficas" do desmatamento nas Américas tropicais. O trabalho termina chamando a atenção para a importância da pesquisa inédita do geógrafo da Universidade da Califórnia Henry Bruman (1913-2005) sobre a colonização do Brasil pós-guerra. Embora, atualmente, uma figura obscura no Brasil, Bruman via a si mesmo como um dos sucessores intelectuais de Waibel.Palavras-Chave: História Ambiental; Geografia Histórica; Migração, Colonização; Fronteira.

It is now widely accepted that the classic arguments regarding the "structural power" of business are too "structuralist." Subsequent research has focused on a widening array of independent variables that shape the variability of such power. This paper extends this research tradition, arguing that structural power theory has given insufficient attention to governmental actors, typically the targets of such power. The paper argues that ideas and the ideational processes through which government and state leaders construct threat perceptions regarding structural power can be important in mediating such power. The literature on power typically argues that power shapes ideas and disciplines target subjects. This paper revises this logic by arguing that the ideas of target subjects can also shape power. The paper's arguments then are essentially constructivist, but the paper extends such arguments by insisting on a greater role for agency than is often found in constructivist reasoning. Adapted from the source document.

Rational choice, historical institutionalism and sociological institutionalism are under criticism from a new 'constructivist institutionalism' – with critics claiming that established positions cannot explain institutional change effectively, because agents are highly constrained by their institutional environments. These alleged problems in explaining institutional change are exaggerated and can be dealt with by using a suitably tailored historical institutionalism. This places active, interpretive agents at the centre of analysis, in institutional settings modelled as more flexible than those found in 'sticky' versions of historical institutionalism. This alternative approach also absorbs core elements of constructivism in explaining institutional change. The article concludes with empirical illustrations, mainly from Australian politics, of the key claims about how agents operate within institutions with 'bounded discretion', and how institutional environments can shape and even empower agency in change processes.