The first portrays leaders as impotent pawns-the victims of the functional imperatives of environmental change or internal processes beyond their control. The second portrays leaders as omnipotent political engineers, solving problems and resolving conflicts on the basis of stable preferences and powers. The third , an institutional perspective, portrays leaders as institutional gardeners. They are neither impotent nor omnipotent and, if patient, they may give some direction to institutional developments. An institutional perspective emphasises the role of institutions, their origins, history, internal structures and dynamics, in the understanding of human action.
Institutions are rules and practices embedded in structures of meaning and resources.
Changes in a political order involve not only the reorganisation and reallocation of resources, but also the reconceptualisation and change in expectations, preferences, aspirations, mentalities and identities. Yet, institutions are seen as being relatively robust against environmental changes and deliberate reforms. The rest of the paper is divided into five parts. First , Fischer's view of the change process is briefly presented. Second , the three theoretical perspectives, describing political reformers as pawns, engineers and gardeners, are developed in more detail.