"This article proposes a theoretical approach to the political economy of institutional change and comparative capitalism. It argues that the firm-based approach of the Varieties of Capitalism literature cannot satisfactorily integrate the political aspects of institutional change and must in one way or another rely on some type of economic functionalism. By linking explicitly political strategies and demands for institutional change, a neorealist approach can exploit the concepts of complementarity and hierarchy of institutions. Different types of institutional change may take place in situations of political equilibrium, political crisis or systemic crisis."

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