Complexity, systems thinking and evaluation – an emerging relationship?

A recent publication proposed a framework for evaluating complex policies and complex situations grounded in the interaction of four elements – simplicity, inventiveness, flexibility, and specificity. In a foreword, Elliott Stern commented on the legacy of a systems approach based on the work of influential thinkers (Ludwig von Bertalanffy, James Miller, Fred Emery, Eric Trist, Stafford Beer, Russ Ackoff and Peter Checkland) who challenged prior reductionist, linear approaches some four decades ago.