New Institutionalism And Legislative Governance In Indian States: A Comaparitive Study Of West Bengal And Uttar Pradesh

In contrast to behaviouralism, which held that institutions reflect the society in which they are embedded, New Institutionalists argue that institutions have an inner logic of action, enjoy autonomy and can insulate themselves from and have the capacity to impact upon the flow of politics in the society in which they are based. The aim of this exploratory study is to understand how far New Institutionalism can provide an alternative method of both conceptualizing and evaluating legislative performance and based upon it an explanation of existing patterns of (good/bad) governance in the Indian states. First, it could enhance our understanding of the ways in which legislatures in the context of a developing society undergoing rapid social change can insulate themselves and avoid being captured by narrow selfish interests of individuals, groups or parties. Second, it could contribute to our understanding of the differential patterns of governance in the states through an examination of the internal functioning of egislative institutions. The significance of the central query of the study arises not only from the lack of research on the functioning of state legislatures or, recent reports of their decline as effective policy making institutions, but more fundamentally, because most explanations by scholars of change, development or crisis in the Indian polity, have been almost entirely society-oriented.