Complexity

The Complexity of Bilateral Relations

Andreas N. Ludwig • Mar 25 2021 • Articles

The renewal of bilateral relations research for a world of massive uncertainty and permanent change is theoretically, as well as methodologically, possible.

The (Near) Impossibility of a Coherent National Strategy, and Why That Is Okay

Jason Schultz • Jul 24 2017 • Articles

Instead of worrying about developing a Grand Strategy, leaders and pundits should worry about tackling problems on a day-to-day basis.

No Easy Victory

Barry Stentiford • Jul 12 2017 • Articles

Strategic leaders and the American public should recognize that ending wars will often result in something different from what was sought at the beginning.

Crude Thinking — 7 Ways of Dealing with the Complex in IR

Daniel Clausen • Jan 29 2016 • Articles

Complexity and chaos theory have been associated with modeling and literary fancy, but the suggestions explored here are based on the ethos of rugged practitioners.

Policymaking at the Edge of Chaos

Christopher Ford • Feb 7 2011 • Articles

One of the peculiar challenges Complexity may present is that the nonlinearity and unpredictability it posits as being fundamental characteristics of complex systems are profoundly subversive of how we have traditionally understood policymaking. Complex adaptive systems are highly sensitive to initial conditions, as well as potentially subject to a variety of both positive and negative feedback loops, making outcomes unpredictable over the long term.

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