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of ers. For example, Mahoney (2000, 2006) suggests that a somewhat dif erent concep-
tion of path dependence can be constructed in terms of what he has called 'reactive
sequences'. Reactive sequences are chains of temporally ordered and causally ordered
events. In a reactive sequence, each event in the historical sequence is both a reaction
to antecedent events and a causal inl uence on subsequent events. This still means that
early, initial events are important to later outcomes: small changes in initial conditions
can accumulate over time and make a great deal of dif erence by the end of a sequence.
In this respect, reactive sequences retain one of the key aspects of the path dependence
idea. But in other respects, reactive sequences are quite dif erent from the basic 'lock-in
to equilibrium' conception of David-type path dependence models. Whereas the increas-
ing returns sequences that are typically invoked in standard path dependence models
are characterised by processes of reproduction that reinforce early events, reactive
sequences are marked by processes that transform earlier events: in a reactive sequence,
initial events trigger subsequent development not by reproducing a given pattern, but by
setting in motion a chain of linked reactions and events. As such, this interpretation of
path dependence of ers a much more open set of possibilities in terms of the trajectories
of technological, industrial and regional economic paths.
Another possible framework is the so-called 'process-sequencing' model (Howlett
and Rayner, 2006). This conceives of social processes as the connections between events
in dif erent time periods arising in terms of reiterated problem solving (Haydu, 1998).
Proponents of this model among sociologists argue that it has advantages over standard
path dependency models as it 'provides a plausible way to represent and account for
historical trajectories; it builds social actors and multiple causal timelines into explana-
tory accounts; and it of ers a richer sense of how earlier outcomes shape later ones'
(Haydu, 1998, p. 341). That is, 'continuities across temporal cases can be traced in part
to enduring problems, while more or less contingent solutions to those problems are seen
as rel ecting and regenerating the historical individuality of each period' (Haydu, 1998,
p. 354). Unlike path dependency, process sequencing emphasises not how outcomes at
historical switch points are accidents, but how they are i rmly based or rooted in previ-
ous events and developments as related structural processes of negative and positive
feedback that af ect actor behaviour (Baumgartner and Jones, 2002). Changes in trajec-
tories in this model are not random or chaotic, but are outgrowths of earlier trajectories.
Hence, although process sequencing shares some of the characteristics of the standard
path dependency model, it is not the same.
Yet another approach worthy of study by economic geographers is the so-called 'pan-
archy' perspective that has been proposed in evolutionary ecology (see, for example,
Gunderson and Holling, 2002). Panarchy is a conceptual framework that seeks to
account for the seemingly contradictory characteristic of all complex systems - persist-
ence and change. Great emphasis is put on the interconnectedness of levels, between
the smallest and the largest, and the fastest and slowest. Large scale slow processes set
the conditions for the smaller scale faster processes to operate. But the small scale fast
changes can also have an impact on the larger, slower processes. The fast levels invent,
experiment and test; the slower levels stabilise and conserve the accumulated memory of
past, successful experiments. The primary focus of this approach is on the nature and
dynamics of 'adaptive cycles', the process that accounts for both stability and change.
The adaptive cycle periodically generates variability and novelty, either internally
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