ABSTRACT
Path dependence is an irrationality of governance, a governance failure, when public policy ceases to coincide with the public interest and is instead determined by the force of its own inertia. The theory of path dependence posits that the production of commodities does not entirely follow the rational logic of the market in which supply is led by demand. Pierson shows how the theory of path dependence can be applied to understanding political behaviour. Institutional path dependence can be divided into two aspects: organizational and discursive. The theory of path dependence provides a challenge to the apparent functional rationality of patterns of urban systems, institutions, organizations and discourses. Path dependence provides an explanation of the substantial observed differences amongst cities and their transport systems which appear to have developed within similar contextual conditions, sometimes within the same country. Path dependence opens up an extensive academic field for research in public policy subjecting a variety of policy domains to historical analysis.
