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<p>This article proposes a rethinking of institutional decline by foregrounding the role of boundary regulation under systemic strain. While dominant accounts in neo-institutionalism, systems theory, and transaction cost economics assume stable institutional demarcations, this paper argues that the failure or endurance of institutions hinges on their capacity to recalibrate boundaries in response to internal tension and external shocks. Drawing on theoretical traditions from Mary Douglas to Niklas Luhmann and Andrew Abbott, the paper conceptualizes institutional fragility as a function of disrupted classification, contested jurisdiction, and exhausted edge-management. In doing so, it offers a dynamic framework that shifts the analytical focus from static legitimacy or structural efficiency to the tension-ridden politics of institutional inclusion and exclusion.</p>

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Institutional fragility at the boundary: reframing systemic decline as a crisis of recalibration

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年10月28日

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  • Xu Zhang,
  • Jiadong Liao

摘要

This article proposes a rethinking of institutional decline by foregrounding the role of boundary regulation under systemic strain. While dominant accounts in neo-institutionalism, systems theory, and transaction cost economics assume stable institutional demarcations, this paper argues that the failure or endurance of institutions hinges on their capacity to recalibrate boundaries in response to internal tension and external shocks. Drawing on theoretical traditions from Mary Douglas to Niklas Luhmann and Andrew Abbott, the paper conceptualizes institutional fragility as a function of disrupted classification, contested jurisdiction, and exhausted edge-management. In doing so, it offers a dynamic framework that shifts the analytical focus from static legitimacy or structural efficiency to the tension-ridden politics of institutional inclusion and exclusion.