Rigidities in governance and transition: dependencies

In this chapter we explain how a governance configuration is not just a pattern, but also a mode of transformation, and that this is self-transformation. Power/knowledge and actor/institution configurations in governance reproduce themselves and create governance paths, often in ways that restrict flexibility of choices and options and therewith create rigidities. Yet sources of flexibility exist, some of which stem from the interplay of rigidities. In order to understand these patterns of rigidity and flexibility we refer to the concept of dependencies. Dependencies are not formed only where there is a central actor or resource. They form because of a particular history of interactions between actor and institution, power and knowledge, formal and informal. Dependencies delimit self-transformation in governance yet also have to be understood positively. They provide structure and predictability, and create strategic options as much as they limit strategic options. They enable as much as disable, just as discourse makes reality accessible but always by creating a structure which reduces the visibility of alternatives. We discern four different kinds of dependencies: path dependencies, interdependencies, material dependencies, and goal dependencies.