Abstract:

The quest for reform seems to have become a characteristic phenomenon of modern societies, to some extent analogous to restless change and innovation in the economic sphere. Reform agenda crop up time and again in the wake of economic development and its unintended consequences. The way in which they are transformed into reform projects is mediated by the logic of modern politics, but is also influenced by the development of modern science and enlightenment values. While reforms are no longer perceived as rare events necessarily associated with major discontinuities, it is argued that this does not connote a rationalistic scenario where all institutional change comes in the form of (piecemeal) social engineering. Taking on board some insights regarding process-related aspects of “improvements” as discussed in the Scottish Enlightenment, implications for the role of science, reason, and power in the context of change are sketched.