Handbook on Complexity and Public Policy

Edited by Robert Geyer, Professor of Politics, Complexity and Policy, Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion, Lancaster University and Paul Cairney, Professor of Politics and Public Policy, Division of History and Politics, University of Stirling, UK

‘Over recent years Complexity Science has revealed to us new limits to our possible knowledge and control in social, cultural and economic systems. Instead of supposing that past statistics and patterns will give us predictable outcomes for possible actions, we now know the world is, and will always be, creative and surprising. Continuous structural evolution within such systems may change the mechanisms, descriptors, problems and opportunities, often negating policy aims. We therefore need to redevelop our thinking about interventions, policies and policy making, moving perhaps to a humbler, more ‘learning’ approach. In this Handbook, leading thinkers in multiple domains set out these new ideas and allow us to understand how these new ideas are changing policymaking and policies in this new era.’

• Contents:1. IntroductionPaul Cairney and Robert GeyerPART I: THEORY AND TOOLS2. Complexity, Power and PolicyGraham Room 3. Complexity and Real PoliticsAdrian Little 4. Critical Legal Studies and a Complexity Approach: Some Initial Observations for Law and PolicyThomas E. Webb5. 'What's the Big Deal?': Complexity Versus Traditional US Policy ApproachesMichael Givel 6. Can We Discover the Higgs Boson of Public Policy or Public Administration Theory? A Complexity Theory Answer Göktuǧ Morçöl 7. The Policymaker's Complexity ToolkitJim Price, Philip Haynes and Mary Darking, Julia Stroud, Chris Warren- Adamson, Carla Ricaurte-Ouijano8. Effective Policy Making: Addressing Apparently Intractable ProblemsEve Mitleton-Kelly PART II: METHODS AND MODELLING FOR POLICY RESEARCH AND ACTION9. Complexity Theory and Political Science: Do New Theories Require New Methods? Stuart Astill and Paul Cairney 10. Complexity Modelling and Application to Policy ResearchLiz Johnson 11. Policymaking as Complex Cartography? Mapping and Achieving Probable Futures Using Complex Concepts and ToolsKasey Treadwell Shine 12. The Role of Models in Bridging Expert and Lay Knowledge in Policy-Making ActivitiesSylvie Occelli and Ferdinando Semboloni 13. Modelling Complexity for Policy: Opportunities and ChallengesBruce Edmonds and Carlos Gershenson 14. Using Agent-Base Modelling to Inform Policy for Complex DomainsMirsad Hadzikadic, Joseph Whitmeyer and Ted Carmichael PART III: APPLYING COMPLEXITY TO LOCAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL POLICY15. Local Government Service Design Skills Through the Appreciation of ComplexityCatherine Hobbs 16. Managing Complex Adaptive Systems to Improve Public Outcomes in Birmingham, UKTony Bovaird and Richard Kenny 17. Brazil and Violent Crime: Complexity as a Way of Approaching 'Intractable' ProblemsKai Enno Lehmann 18. Educating for Equality: The Complex Policy of Domestic Migrants' Children in ChinaQian Liu 19.The Emergence of Iintermediary Organizations: A Network-based Approach to the Design of Innovation PoliciesAnnalisa Caloffi, Federica Rossi and Margherita Russo20. Complexity Theory and Collaborative Crisis Governance in SwedenDaniel Nohrstedt 21. Going for Plan B- Conditioning Adaptive Planning. About Urban Planning and Institutional Design in a Non-linear, Complex WorldGert de Roo22. Complexity and Health PolicyTim Tenbensel 23. A Case Study of Complexity and Health Policy: Planning for a PandemicBen Gray 24. How useful is Complexity Theory to Policy Studies? Lessons from the Climate Change Adaptation LiteratureAdam Wellstead, Michael Howlett, Jeremy Rayner 25. Agent Based Modelling and the Global Trade NetworkUgur Bilge 26. The International Financial Crisis: The Failure of a Complex SystemPhilip Haynes CONCLUSION27. Where does Complexity and Policy Go from Here?Paul Cairney and Robert GeyerIndex