Path Selection: Our path is set regardless of what we wish it to be

Introduction

Path selection, a highly popular concept in social science, simply refers to a dynamic pattern or continuity that evolves as a result of its own past. As a historically sensitive approach, path dependence emphasizes the role of the timing and sequence of events in the social and political world (Howard, 39). Small, accidental, or random occurrences happening at a certain time are expected to have long-lasting, self-reproducing patterns or paths (Jackson, 228). In other words, when things happen in a chain of events affects how they take place. ...