NEW APPROACH OF A LEARNING THEORY: COMPARING THREE EMPIRICAL STUDIES.

The study focuses on the modernization of states and constitutes a further development of learning theories. Political change is caused by policy-learning. Furthermore, learning approaches can contribute to a better explanation of policies. They often do this when they are designed complementary to and integrated into actor-centred institutional approaches. This has the advantage that such central categories as power and interests do not remain underexposed. Strictly speaking, change is not triggered by institutional factors or actor constellations. These factors merely stimulate change. Ultimately, there are other components, which initiate a learning process and change in cooperation with the aforementioned contextual factors. Crucial for this happen is a political and economic pressure setting and, inter alia, the factors of time and space. Therefore, the probability that political change will follow in the wake of learning processes is higher if the aforementioned factors that promote learning meet up with favourable contextual factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]