Introduction

Abstract

Part I demonstrated limitations to institutional design “from above” or “top down” when institutions are treated as black boxes. Part II put much effort in the attempt to open the black box and elucidate its internal workings and dynamics by focussing on informal institutions and social practice. The following Part III asks which conditions are necessary or conducive to integrate aspects of social practice and informal institutions into the design of formal institutions. This part of the book is about capacities for social learning and about the possibility to promote these capacities and to strengthen them. Bolstered with a broader and deeper understanding of the internal workings of the black box, we now come back to questions of institutional design and emphasise a more procedural approach. This approach allows for an appreciation of unintended effects, gradual improvements and incremental changes.