institutioncentric

Institution-centric is an adjective used in scholarly and policy contexts to describe approaches, analyses, or designs that place institutions at the center of explanation and intervention. Institutions here refer to formal rules such as laws, regulations, property rights, and enforcement mechanisms, as well as informal norms, conventions, and routines that shape behavior.

In social science, institution-centric analyses treat the quality and structure of institutions as primary drivers of outcomes in areas like economic development, political stability, governance, and public administration. This perspective is associated with institutional economics and governance theory, and is complemented by the work of Douglass North, Elinor Ostrom, and related schools in which rules-in-use and incentive structures determine behavior and performance.

Compared with person-centric or market-centric approaches, institution-centric analysis asks: how do the rules of the game constrain or enable action? It is often used to assess reform options by focusing on strengthening property rights, reducing transaction costs, enhancing rule of law, and improving accountability and legitimacy.

Critics argue that it can underplay individual agency, culture, and technological change, and that measuring the full set of institutions remains challenging. In practice, institution-centric work informs policy design, comparative development studies, organizational change, and governance reforms, helping researchers and practitioners target institutional change as a lever for outcomes.