Complexity, Institutions and Public Policy: Agile Decision-Making in a Turbulent World - Tapa blanda

`This is a most fascinating book. Just as Aristotle wrote his Metaphysics after his Physics, so Room has written a "metasocialpolicy" which will act as a groundwork for future study of social policy and for policy-making.' -- Citizen's Income `Theoretical work on complex phenomena is beginning to have a major impact on several disciplines. Graham Room gives a clear summary of many of these insights and shows how this work can help guide public policy.' -- Geoffrey M. Hodgson, University of Hertfordshire, UK `This is a very important book. Graham Room gives a very detailed, accurate and accessible review of complexity theory as it applies to social policy. It will be of interest to academics who really want to understand the implications of complexity theory for policy making in complex and fast-changing situations and to those undertaking advanced courses in politics, economics and sociology.' -- Jean Boulton, Cranfield University, UK

Graham Room argues that conventional approaches to the conceptualisation and measurement of social and economic change are unsatisfactory. As a result, researchers are ill-equipped to offer policy advice. This book offers a new analytical approach, combining complexity science and institutionalism. Part 1 is concerned with the conceptualisation of socio-economic change. It integrates complexity science and institutionalism into a coherent ontology of social and policy dynamics. Part 2 is concerned with models and measurement. It combines some of the principal approaches developed in complexity analysis with models and methods drawn from mainstream social and political science. Part 3 offers empirical applications to public policy: the dynamics of social exclusion; the social dimension of knowledge economies; the current financial and economic crisis. These are supplemented by a toolkit for the practice of `agile policy making'. This is a stimulating, provocative and highly original book. It will appeal to academics and students in social and policy studies and to a wide range of scholars in other disciplines where complexity science is already well-developed. It will also be of major interest for decision makers coping with complex and turbulent policy terrains.