B. Guy Peters is Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh, USA. He is the author or editor of over 60 books in political science, and a founding editor of the European Political Science Review and of Governance. He has been a guest professor in universities in almost every country in Europe and a number in Latin America and Asia.

At the turn of the millennium there has been a major growth of interest in institutional theory and institutional analysis in political science. This book identifies these approaches to institutions, and provides a frame of reference for the different theories. In the past decade there has been a major growth of interest in institutional theory and institutional analysis in political science. There are, however, a variety of different approaches to the new institutionalism' and these approaches rarely address the same issues. This book identifies the various approaches to institutions, and then provides a common frame of reference for the different theories.