Where the term “new-” or “experimental institutionalism” gained traction at the end of the 1990s/early 2000s, as a way to discuss the potential for (mostly northern European) art institutions to re-shape museum culture, “reflexive institutionalism”—or institutional reflexivity—is the process of re-shaping that re-shaping of museum culture, particularly in non-western contexts.

Borrowed from the concept of reflexive modernity (Anthony Giddens/Ulrich Beck) in social theory, the term reflexive relates to “reflex” more than “self-reflection,” and to social developments that arise through alienation from the impact of previous decisions or activities: the critical modernization of modernization.