Research On The New Institutionalism In Political Science

China which is in a crucial period of development and transition urgently needs the knowledge of institution design and institution conversion from macro-development strategies to specific policy arrangements. Therefore, it is an important task for China's political scholars to carry out the study of theory and practice of institutions during building a harmonious socialist society.As a main academic discourse in current Western political science, the new institutionalism has been a hot topic to concern about and research on for domestic scholars recently. It amends and expands the basic propositions of emphasizing institutions of the old institutionalism, integrates the scientific analytical methods of the behaviorism (such as dynamic, processing and quantitative), adopts elaborate frameworks of the rational choice theory and learns from outstanding results in economics and sociology. The new institutionalism shows diversifying characteristics of methodologies. It not only overcomes the defects and shortcomings of paradigms of the past study in political science, but also provides more reasonable explanations for complex political phenomena through giving new interpretations of institutions, the relationships between institutions and behaviors, and the origins and changes of institutions. It also brings useful thoughts for political institution building in the period of transition in our country.This paper insists on the Marxist methodology and uses the specific methods of literature and comparative researches. It cards the historical trail and the theoretical background of the rise of the new institutionalism in political science. It explains the main points and basic characteristics of the three schools of the new institutionalism and outlooks the possibility of communications among the schools in the future. Finally it assesses the contributions and limitations of the new institutionalism in political science, surveys the value of the paradigm according to the Marxism and sums up three enlightenments to China's political institution building: grasping the " balance principle " to realize the "self-strengthening" of political institutions, emphasizing the building of informal institutions to reduce the costs of the implementation of formal institutions, participating in building international institutions to strengthen the identity of China.