The Problem of Institutional Constraint

Political institutions are both human products and constraints on those participating within them. Focusing on rational choice theory and Marxist political theory, this paper shows that the problem of reconciling these two characteristics pervades modern political research. The upshot is a fundamental ambiguity in political science's specification of what institutions are. The paper proposes a reconciliation of the two characteristics based on a conception of political institutions as particular aggregates of human individuals. The paper explores the political implications of this conception for the possibility of a society changing or eliminating institutional constraints.