Political systems are structured to resist change and preserve existing relations.

Evidence

By their nature political systems are relatively impervious to change. To identify a set of social relations as a political system is to draw attention to the relative stability of the patterns of interaction that make it up. While it is useful to specify as clearly as possible the forces supporting the status quo, it is hardly surprising to discover that the prevailing structure of relations is deeply rooted. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 1365

Categorization

• QUESTION: If political systems are defined by stability, how do the reader’s case studies of rapid administrative change still occur? Does this definition smuggles in a bias toward finding stasis?
• XREF: Connects to institutional-theory literature on path dependence and the reproduction of organizational routines (DiMaggio & Powell’s isomorphisms). — connects to: Small consistent acts of resistance can reshape institutions over decades — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 119; Alliance commitments generate durable domestic constituencies that resist their abandonment. — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 142