The evolution of nonlinear dynamics in political science and public administration: Methods, modeling and momentum

Abstract

This paper examines the evolution of the application of nonlinear dynamics and related methods to the study of political science and public administration throughout the 20th century. Some analysts understood the importance of nonlinearity to political and administrative studies in the early part of the century. More recently, a growing number of scholars understand that the political and administrative worlds are ripe with nonlinearity and thus amenable to nonlinear dynamical techniques and models. The current state of the application of both discrete and continuous time models in political science and public administration are presented. There is growing momentum in political and public administration studies that may serve to enhance the realism and applicability of these sciences to a nonlinear world.

Keywords

• Political science; Public administration; Public policy; Research methods; Nonlinearity; Complexity; Discrete time models; Continuous time models.