The third response is that the MLP employs ‘process theory’ as explanatory style rather than ‘vari-
ance theory’ (Geels and Schot, 2010). Process theories do not explain variance in the dependent variable
as ‘caused’ by independent variables, but instead explain outcomes in terms of event sequences and
the timing and conjunctures of event-chains (Pettigrew, 1997; Abbott, 2001; Langley, 2007). Depend-
ing on the research topic and question, these can be micro-events such as moves and counter-moves
by actors, or they can be macro-events as in Fig. 3, which interprets the English industrial revolution
as the outcome of three event sequences: an environmental sequence, a cultural sequence and an
industrialization sequence.8