The structure-in-evolution approach: a unified view of evolutionary change in policy systems

ABSTRACT

Scholars across the social sciences, including in the studies of institutions and policy, have found useful various elements of evolutionary and complexity research. Though sharing the same worldview, these streams of research emphasize different aspects of change and lack a shared set of assumptions and tools. As a result, they remain largely disconnected. Inspired by innovation research and its novel theory of change in technological systems, this article aims to bridge these gaps and advance a unified view of policy change called the structure-in-evolution approach. The structure-in-evolution analysis accounts for both the dynamics and the structure of change by positing that policy systems, like other technological systems, evolve according to distinct patterns and exhibit complex and adaptive properties of such systems. This approach, the article argues, thus promises not only to integrate our understanding of evolutionary change but also a major leap forward in our ability to study and develop public policy.

KEYWORDS:

• Policy change
• evolutionary policy
• complex systems
• complexity policy
• TRIZ

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 van den Bergh and Kallis (2009) also contrast evolutionary policy with a number of conventional and unconventional policy models.

2 Although S curve analyses in combination with other tools could enhance our forecasting capacity at certain points in time.

3 Autopoiesis was also used by Arthur (2009) in understanding technologies as “creations of history,” where “every technology stands upon a pyramid of others that made it possible in a succession that goes back to the earliest phenomena that humans captured” (112).

4 These questions were posed, for example, by Streeck (2010) or Sanderson (2007) in their evolutionary work.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Oldrich Bubak

Oldrich Bubak is a policy scholar and author focusing on issues stemming from complexity, interconnectedness, and uncertainty. In his work, he draws on a significant practical and theoretical experience in public policy, systems design and management. The scholar has conducted advanced research in comparative public policy at McMaster University, Canada. He is currently Affiliate Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic.