From the Habit of Control to Institutional Enablement: Re-envisioning the Governance of Social-Ecological Systems from the Perspective of Complexity Sciences

Abstract

Due to the inherent uncertainty in predicting the evolution of phase-spaces in social-ecological systems (SESs), these systems cannot be “optimally” managed through top-down, command and control type of governance designs. Instead, generalized autocatalytic set theory, a type of network and complexity theory with foundations in mathematical graph theory, may be used as a bottom-up, emergent and co-evolutionary framework to design the governance regimes of SESs. Under this theoretical re-conceptualization, the policy and institutional interventions can at best “enable” the policy-makers to nudge SESs towards socially desirable yet ecologically feasible phase-spaces, which in turn are continually revamped as new elements in phase-spaces emerge.

Keywords

• autocatalytic sets
• adjacent possible
• phase-spaces
• co-evolution
• governance design
• policy regimes
• global governance.