Agile Actors on Complex Terrains

This book brings together complexity science, sociological theory and political economy and applies them to empirical areas of public policy. It shows how complexity science can illuminate the non-linear dynamics of the social world, but only if understood by reference to the unequal distribution of power and advantage.

Graham Room is Professor of European Social Policy at the University of Bath. He is author, co-author or editor of twelve books, including Complexity, Institutions and Public Policy: Agile Decision-Making in a Turbulent World, Edward Elgar, 2011. He was Founding Editor of the Journal of European Social Policy and Founding Director of the Institute for Policy Research.

Preface Introduction Part I: Transformative Realism 1. Complexity and the Social Sciences 2. Evolution and the Arts of Civilisation 3. Contingent Development and Explanation (with Graham K Brown) Part II: Agile Actors 4. Rationality, Rationales and Agile Action 5. Positional Advantage: A Three-Dimensional Analysis 6. Navigating Complex Environments Part III: Public Policy 7. Evidence for Agile Policy-Makers 8. Nudge or Nuzzle? - Improving Decisions about Active Citizenship 9. Unequal Rewards and the Super-Rich 10. Conclusion