Conflict Frontiers Seminar 4 -- Moving Toward a Complexity-Oriented Paradigm

 

Brown Bag Seminar / Course

Frontiers Seminar Series Homepage


This seminar continues our discussion of a complexity-oriented approach to peacebuilding, drawing from the work of Kenneth Boulding and Wendell Jones, and then adding a "Burgess spin" on the topic. Posts in this seminar include:

Conflict Frontiers Posts:

BI Knowledge Base Essays

  • Complex Adaptive Systems -- Beyond complex, societal-level conflicts can be considered to be "complex adaptive systems," similar in some sense to weather, ant colonies, or jazz ensembles. The study of these systems requires us to challenge assumptions deeply embedded in the North American/European understandings of conflict intervention.
  • Systems Modeling - One of the central challenges of deciding how to address intractable conflict is to understand how to respond to their dynamics and complexity. Systems modeling is one tool to help you do that.  This article explains systems modeling and gives several examples of how it can be used to design effective interventions in intractable conflicts.

Beyond Intractability in Context Posts

Photo Credits

  • Influence Clouds -- Guy Burgess