institabilitet

Institabilitet, or institutional instability, is the condition in which formal political, legal, or organizational arrangements display frequent, unpredictable, or long-lasting changes in authority, rules, or practices. It describes a lack of continuity in the governance framework that regulates collective action, policy making, and governance credibility.

Institutions include constitutions, electoral laws, regulatory agencies, courts, ministries, and corporate governance norms. Instabilitet can appear as rapid cabinet turnover, repeated constitutional amendments, abrupt shifts in regulatory regimes, or reorganizations of key agencies. The phenomenon affects both public institutions and other organized rule-setting bodies.

Causes of institabilitet often involve political fragmentation and fragile governing coalitions, exogenous shocks, economic crises, social movements, or strategic leadership changes. Structural features such as weak rule of law, patronage networks, and ambiguous or overlapping competencies can amplify instability by creating incentives to rewrite or reassign rules.

Consequences include policy uncertainty, higher transaction costs, reduced long-term planning, lower investment and growth, and erosion of public trust. Over time, institabilitet can hinder policy coherence and undermine the legitimacy of political and legal systems, although some flexibility in rules can also enable adaptation during crises.

Measurement and assessment rely on indicators such as cabinet turnover rates, frequency and scope of constitutional or legal amendments, changes in regulatory regimes, and durations of policy continuity. Comparative studies often link higher instability to regime fragility or transition periods, while moderate levels can reflect adaptive governance in dynamic environments.