Engagement and political institutions: the case of ombudsman

Abstract

In this article, I examine the relationship between engagement and political institutions by using the example of the creation and development of the ombudsman institution. The article starts with the short introduction to key theoretical views about institutions, political institutions and institutionalization. Then, I concentrate on how political institutions change, i.e. whether they can be changed through social engagement and whether and when we can actually say that they are originally created by an engagement. By using the case of ombudsman, I explore if political institutions can engage themselves and under what conditions, that is, whether are institutions characterized by in-built permanent reflexivity possible.

Keywords

• engagement
• institutions
• political institutions
• institutionalization
• institutionalism
• oversight bodies
• independent bodies
• ombudsman