Policymaking as design in complex systems - the international climate change regime

Peake, Stephen (2010). Policymaking as design in complex systems - the international climate change regime. Emergence: Complexity and Organization, 12(2) pp. 15–22.

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Abstract

This paper explores policymaking as a design process in complex systems using the example of the international climate policy regime. Applying Johnson's (2008) framework on science and the designing of policy for complex futures, we establish that the evolution of international climate policy displays some characteristics of an ad hoc complexity-science policy-design process. The IPCC's emissions scenario approach is used as an example of the current climate-science policy regime's approach to dealing with policy uncertainty. We conclude that such an approach fails to capture the true relationships between policymakers, the complex models they seek to design and the actual uncertainty inherent in the environment. Further, we conclude that more formal linkages between climate policymaking and complex systems science could generate valuable new insights for both policymakers and scientists.

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