Ideas, norms, and culture in political analysis

After years of neglect, ideational variables have moved to the forefront of the political science agenda, yet ideational explanations still meet with skepticism in many quarters. Studies of ideas should focus on the three broad questions of agency and change, institutionalization, and political behavior. First, how do new ideas rise to political prominence, and why do individuals or groups trade old beliefs for new ones? Second, how do some ideas become embedded in organizations, patterns of discourse, and collective identities and take on a life of their own separate from the conditions that gave rise to them? Third, how do ideational variables influence political behavior, and what connects ideational variables to particular political outcomes?