A Systems-Based Approach to Policymaking

Front Cover
Kenyon B. de Greene
Springer Science & Business Media, 2012 M12 6 - 355 pages
This book is based on a number of systems concepts, of which the following are emphasized here: oThe interacting systems of society and the environment are dynamic and evolution ary oEvolution of these systems carries them through stages of differential stability and instability, continuity and discontinuity oAssociated with evolution and instability is structural change that is essentially irre versible oThe present is a stage of world transformation that may not have been equaled for decades or even centuries oPolicies and decisions must match the times, in the present case the stage of world transformation The time 11:59:59 PM, approximately, on December 31, 2000 has an impor tant symbolic meaning. It marks the end of a minute, the end of an hour, the end of a day, the end of a year, the end of a decade, the end of a century, and the end of a millennium. The time and date provide a convenient yardstick against which we can evaluate the evolution of our thinking and the adequacy of our assumptions, mental models, paradigms, and policies. Will the beginning tum out to be appropriately dif ferent from the end? We hope that this book is helpful in such evaluation. This is a new-paradigm book, which both presents and advances the new way of thinking about the systems of science, technology, society, economics, politics, and the environment, and actively calls for the replacement of the worn out cognitive/sociotechnical paradigm.
 

Contents

X
54
ADAPTIVE CONTROL AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
65
FIELDTHEORETIC FRAMEWORK FOR SYSTEMS
103
viii
108
Allen is Scientific Director of the International Ecotechnology
137
SCHOOL FOR RULERS
138
APPEARANCE AND REALITY
175
SYSTEM DYNAMICS AND THE LESSONS OF 35 YEARS
199
Jay W Forrester is Germeshausen Professor at the Sloan School
238
WHOLESYSTEM CONCEPTS IN SOCIETAL TRANS
241
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READING
270
Willis W Harman is President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Sausalito
271
DECISION MANAGEMENT THEN AND NOW 1790
297
INDEX
345
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