Conceptions of Political Steering and Problems of Political Governance

Abstract

This article revises three theories of political steering: neoinstitutionalism, the actor-centered institutionalism, and the systemic theory of contextual steering. The analysis aims to answer the question of the quality of steering theories. After exploring neoinstitutionalism as a correction of behaviorism and rational choice theories, this paper studies the problems of the actor-centered institutionalism as a contemporary continuation of neoinstitutionalism. Subsequently, the article presents the foundations of the systemic theory of contextual steering and, as a conclusion, it clarifies why this theory allows a wider and more profound insight about the problems of political steering in modern complex societies.