Self-Organization and Community-Based Development Initiatives

Abstract

The self-organization paradigm, a theoretical framework with roots in biology and physics, is proposed to have relevance to understanding change in social systems. The processes and design features associated with self-organization can be used to describe the dynamics of social groups and organizations, especially in cases where non-marginal change disrupts the basic structure of a community. Self-organization refers to the ability of a complex system, when exposed to severe shock, to find a new equilibrium that may be far from its starting point. When applied to economic systems it leads to a major shift in perspective, from a search for ways to return to the prior equilibrium, to a search for a new one. Recent advances in our understanding of community-based development initiatives are shown to be consistent with the notion of a self-organizing system. In this article, we discuss the conditions necessary for this type of approach to work When development is seen in this context, the roles of community development professionals and senior levels of government also are altered. Finally, we note that self-organization complements rather than replaces traditional equilibrium models, which remain useful for analysis of marginal change.