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Summary
Comprehensive overview of the inroads made by Complexity Thinking approaches and ideas in the study and practice of world politics.
Why are policymakers, scholars, and the general public so surprised when the world turns out to be unpredictable? World Politics at the Edge of Chaos suggests that the study of international politics needs new forms of knowledge to respond to emerging challenges such as the interconnectedness between local and transnational realities; between markets, migration, and social movements; and between pandemics, a looming energy crisis, and climate change. Asserting that Complexity Thinking (CT) provides a much-needed lens for interpreting these challenges, the contributors offer a parallel assessment of the impact of CT to anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric (post-human) International Relations. Using this perspective, the result should be less surprise when confronting the dynamism of a fragile and unpredictable global life.
Emilian Kavalski is Associate Professor of Global Studies at the Institute for Social Justice at Australian Catholic University, North Sydney. He is the author and editor of several books, including Central Asia and the Rise of Normative Powers: Contextualizing the Security Governance of the European Union, China, and India.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Inside/Outside and Around: Observing the Complexity of Global Life Emilian Kavalski
Part I. Complexity Thinking and Anthropocentric International Relations
1. The Gardner and the Craftsman: Four Types of Complexity in Global Life David C. Earnest
2. Theorizing International Relations: Emergence, Organized Complexity, and Integrative Pluralism Colin Wight
3. Musings on Complexity, Policy, and Ideology Christopher A. Ford
4. Harnessing the Knowledge of the Masses: Citizen Sensor Networks, Violence, and Public Safety in Mugunga Erika Frydenlund and David C. Earnest
5. Ascertaining the Normative Implications of Complexity Thinking for Politics: Beyond Agent-Based Modeling Mark Olssen
Part II. Complexity Thinking and Nonanthropocentric International Relations
6. Complexifying International Relations for a Posthumanist World Erika Cudworth and Stephen Hobden
7. Prologomena to Postanthropocentric International Relations: Biosphere and Technosphere in the Age of Global Complexity Antoine Bousquet
8. The Good, the Bad, and the Sometimes Ugly: Complexity as Both Threat and Opportunity in National Security Myriam Dunn Cavelty and Jennifer Giroux
9. Complexity and Stability in Human-Environment Interaction: The Transformation from Climate Risk Cascades to Viable Adaptive Networks Jürgen Scheffran
Conclusion: Complexifying IR: Disturbing the “Deep Newtonian Slumber” of the Mainstream Emilian Kavalski
