Complexity and Public Policy: A New Approach to 21st Century Politics, Policy And Society

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ISBN: 9780415556620 | 0415556627
Cover: Hardcover
Copyright: 4/30/2010

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This book provides a clear, concise and readable introduction to complexity thinking, its application to the social sciences and public policy, and the relevance of its tools to politics, health, the international realm, development, planning and terrorism.

List of figures	p. ix
List of tables	p. xi
Preface	p. xii
Acknowledgements	p. xiv
Introduction	p. 1
The Problem of order: three symbolic cases - Nicolas, Emile and Leila	p. 1
From the pursuit of order to the paradigm of complexity	p. 5
Three brief points and a note on definitions	p. 7
The plan of the book	p. 8
From orderly to complexity science	p. 12
The paradigm of order	p. 12
Spreading ripples of doubt	p. 14
Complex systems in the physical world	p. 16
Complex systems in the biotic world	p. 18
Orderly (modernist) social science and public policy	p. 20
Disorderly (post-modernist) social science and public policy	p. 24
Complexity and social science	p. 28
Complexity and public policy	p. 30
Concepts of complexity	p. 36
Key concepts of physical complex systems	p. 36
Key concepts of biotic complex systems	p. 41
Key concepts of conscious complex systems	p. 46
Tools of complexity	p. 53
Cascade of complexity	p. 53
Balance and range of outcomes	p. 55
Complexity mapping	p. 57
Fitness landscape	p. 60
A different point of view: the fitness landscape	p. 61
The Stacey diagram	p. 64
Stakeholder involvement and soft systems methodology	p. 68
Politics	p. 73
What would a 'complexity map' of politics look like?	p. 74
Complexity and democracy	p. 76
What would a complexity theory of democracy look like?	p. 77
Fundamental regularities and threats	p. 78
Complexity and the 'third way'	p. 80
How does complexity differ from and go beyond the third way?	p. 84
Complexity, politics and the third sector	p. 85
Is the EU compatible with the third sector?	p. 88
Using the 'balance and range of outcomes' tool to help the EU promote the third sector	p. 89
Conclusion	p. 90
Health	p. 92
The influence of the paradigm of order on health	p. 92
Better health at a fraction of the cost - focusing on the basics	p. 94
An efficient national health system: the Cuban case	p. 95
Is Cuba's experience unique and what is the magic formula?	p. 96
The case of the English national health service	p. 98
Complexity and chronic illness: the case of diabetes	p. 103
Understanding chronic illness - from order to complexity	p. 104
Using a fitness landscape to improve diabetes management	p. 105
A different point of view: the fitness landscape	p. 106
Bringing it all together	p. 109
The international arena	p. 110
International relations theory	p. 111
European integration theory	p. 112
Integrating complexity	p. 113
Applying a complexity map to the international arena and European Union	p. 114
General implications	p. 116
Globalisation, Europeanisation and the curious case of the non-death of Scandinavian exceptionalism	p. 118
Implications	p. 120
Another example: the predictable proposal for a true capital of Europe	p. 122
Using a complexity cascade to visualise the development of the EU, Scandinavia and Brussels	p. 123
Conclusion	p. 128
Development	p. 129
The case for radical change in development practice	p. 130
Lopsided view of the way nations evolve	p. 132
Why to the successful succeed? Self-organised complexity	p. 133
Why do the unsuccessful stagnate?	p. 134
A more realistic vision of development	p. 136
From x-y to fitness landscape thinking	p. 138
Why changing the framework of development is so slow	p. 142
Concluding remarks: from hard to soft management	p. 143
Planning dreams into nightmares: The Iraq adventure	p. 146
The predictability of failure	p. 147
Doubts were ignored	p. 149
Was it just state incompetence and/or lack or preparation?	p. 151
Massive costs and negligible benefits	p. 152
The underlying questions	p. 154
Where did the complexity come from?	p. 156
Three acts of orderly reasonableness, but complexity madness	p. 158
Could others have done better? The Stacey diagram	p. 160
Exploding the myths of terrorism	p. 164
There is a clear and agreed definition of terror, terrorism and terrorist	p. 165
September 11 was a tragedy and not a political opportunity	p. 166
One can reduce the elements of a complex international system into separate and manageable units	p. 168
The 'war on terror' is a global affair	p. 169
Global and regional powers are simply reacting to terrorism	p. 169
The 'war on terror' is being won	p. 170
Current terrorism is a new type of terrorism	p. 172
The scale of terrorism has radically increased	p. 173
Middle eastern and Islamic terrorism is a new and major threat	p. 173
Al-Qaeda is new as well	p. 177
Beyond the myths: what does complexity tell us?	p. 178
A complexity map of international terrorism and its implications	p. 179
Conclusion: Towards a complex and humane public policy for the twenty-first century	p. 183
Isn't complexity just a recipe for doing nothing?	p. 183
Is there a morality of complexity?	p. 184
What can complexity do for the weak?	p. 185
Why has complexity been so slow to spill over into the social sciences and public policy?	p. 186
Can complexity be inspirational?	p. 187
How do we go forward from here?	p. 187
And finally ... a couple of playful mental exercises	p. 188
Notes	p. 192
Bibliography	p. 199
Index	p. 211
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Complexity and Public Policy: A New Approach to 21st Century Politics, Policy And Society

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