Short Circuiting Policy: Interest Groups and the Battle Over Clean Energy and Climate Policy in the American States (Studies in Postwar American Political Development)

by Leah Cardamore Stokes

policies reinforce themselves over time: creating constituencies that drive positive feedback and policy expansion. This pattern is referred to as “path dependence” or “lock-in”: once a policy course is set, it is difficult to reverse (Pierson 2000).