View source for Critical Juncture

'''Critical juncture''' is a moment in historical development when institutional trajectories become sensitive to contingent events, after which path dependence locks in specific configurations and forecloses alternatives. The concept is central to [[Historical Institutionalism|historical institutionalism]] and to [[Institutional Analysis|institutional analysis]] more broadly, because it explains why similar societies can diverge dramatically after a single pivotal event—a war, an economic crisis, a constitutional convention, or a technological shift. The critical juncture is not merely a turning point; it is a [[Path Dependence|path-dependent]] system's moment of maximum plasticity, after which the costs of reversal rise exponentially. The concept has been criticized for being post-hoc—analysts identify critical junctures only after divergence has occurred—but this criticism misses the point: the theory is not a predictive tool but a structural description of how history constrains futures, and its real power lies in identifying the [[Institutional Divergence|institutional divergence]] that follows.

[[Category:Political Science]]
[[Category:Systems]]