Complexity Theory in Political Science and Public Policy

Complexity Theory in Political Science and Public Policy

Advocates of complexity theory describe it as a new scientific paradigm. Complexity theory identifies instability and disorder in politics and policy making, and links them to the behaviour of complex systems. It suggests that we shift our analysis from individual parts of a political system to the system as a whole; as a network of elements that interact and combine to produce systemic behavio...

Health Policy and Management: In Praise of Political Science; Comment on “On Health Policy and Management (HPAM): Mind the Theory-Policy Practice Gap”

Health systems have entered a third era embracing whole systems thinking and posing complex policy and management challenges. Understanding how such systems work and agreeing what needs to be put in place to enable them to undergo effective and sustainable change are more pressing issues than ever for policy-makers. The theory-policy-practice-gap and its four dimensions, as articulated by Chini...

Ucl Department of Political Science School of Public Policy

This study uses quantitative analyses of the complete history of rulings made by the Panels and the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organisation’s Dispute Settlement Mechanism in order to assess the robustness of theories regarding the decision-making of these institutions, as well as to explore the potential for such studies of the WTO at this early stage of its development. Regression analy...

Science and public policy.

Bounded Rationality and Political Science: Lessons from Public Administration and Public Policy

By 1958, a model of human behavior capable of serving as the microlevel foundation for organizational and policy studies was in place. The scientific soundness of that model is unquestioned, yet the fundamentals of that behavioral model of choice have not yet been incorporated into political science. Much analysis relies on models of rational maximization despite the availability of a more scie...