【Course description】
In this seminar, we will read foundational works from the sociological neo-institutionalist tradition (World Society Theory), and think about the ideas’ utilities for and limitations in understanding institutionalized isomorphic patterns across disparate actors. These ideas may be particularly useful for cross-national research on education, public policy and law, and organizations, but have wide applications.

More specifically, the focus will be on thinking about the institutionalization of norms and ideas (such as human rights) across the world over time. Is the existence of such norms a matter-of-fact reality for individuals, organizations, and states in today’s world? If so, why? How is it that there can be isomorphism across disparate sovereign states in their acknowledgement and espousal (however procedural they may be) of an idea (or set of ideas)? What then, should we make of the fact that even despite such isomorphism, across states, there are various degrees of discrepancies between policies and actual practices? Do state interests trump international norms? Why, why not, how, and when? These are some of the questions that will underpin the discussions we will have in this course, and students are encouraged to think about how they might use these ideas to enrich their own research.