Zooming in on Institutional Politics: Professional accountability systems as institutional weaponry
研究了专业问责体系如何作为系统性权力增强制度控制，揭示了攻击、预期和防御三种权力策略在制度政治中的辩证互动，对理解无立法下控制自雇专业人士的复杂过程有参考价值。
In this paper we focus on the development of professional accountability systems as a form of systemic power to enhance institutional control, particularly on the associated institutional politics – the interplay between institutional control and institutional work by different (collective) actors. We address the dialectical nature of these institutional politics and identify three types of power tactics underpinning institutional work: attacking, anticipating and defending. Articulating these power tactics revealed the dialectical flux of power tactics between different parties, and how this in turn arose from and affected the development and strength of (new) systemic power. This shows how gaining institutional control over mostly self-employed professionals (veterinarians) through systemic power without legislation is a more sophisticated process than often assumed based on studies of professionals working in large service firms.