Systemic Thinking for Policy Making
The Potential of Systems Analysis for Addressing Global Policy Challenges in the 21st Century
We live in a period of profound systemic change, and as in similar periods in the past, there is bound to be considerable instability and uncertainty before the new society and economy take shape. We have to identify actions that will shape change for the better, and help to build resilience to the inevitable shocks inherent in, and generated by, the complex system of systems constituted by the economy, society and the environment. These challenges require updating the way policies are devised and implemented, and developing more realistic tools and techniques to design those policies on the basis of appropriate data. In Systemic Thinking for Policy Making world experts from the OECD and International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) pool their expertise and experience to propose new approaches to analysing the interconnected trends and issues shaping today’s and tomorrow’s world. The authors argue that to tackle planetary emergencies linked to the environment, the economy and socio-political systems, we have to understand their systemic properties, such as tipping points, interconnectedness and resilience. They give the reader a precise introduction to the tools and techniques needed to do so, and offer hope that we can overcome the challenges the world is facing.
Preface
In policymaking, we hear the word “system” all the time. The economic system. The education system. The financial system. The political system. The social system… However, we rarely hear the word system attached to the word “approach”. But unless we adopt a systems approach, unless we employ systems thinking, we will fail to understand the world we are living in. Our world is made up of complex systems, systems of systems interacting with each other, and changing each other by that interaction and the links between them.
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