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School of Regulation and Global Governance · ANU College of Law, Governance and Policy
We live in a complex and highly interconnected world. In the 21st century, humanity is facing risks stemming from climate change, pandemics, rising inequality, and great power rivalry, which cannot be understood or managed from the perspective of a single discipline. Domains that were previously kept relatively separate, like economics, national security and the environment, are colliding. Governance regimes are multiplying, fragmenting, and overlapping in a bid to grapple with these challenges. This course considers approaches to governance in the face of complexity. It covers issues such as: what governance and regulatory approaches can we adopt to better understand complex problems? What frameworks can we develop to understand and manage opportunities and risks across domains? How does incremental and transformative change happen and what does it demand of us and our institutions? How can our societies develop more resilience in the face of catastrophic risks?
Active participation in class
Learning outcomes 1, 2
Reflection on selected class readings (maximum 1000 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3
Research essay (maximum 3000 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
Approximately 60 hours comprising seminars as well as associated preparation, independent study, and assessment time. Actual time required may vary with individual students.
n/a Preliminary Reading Andreas Duit et al, Governance, Complexity and Resilience, Global Environmental Change 20 (2010) 363–368 Henry Farrell and Abraham L. Newman, ‘Weaponized Interdependence: How Global Economic Networks Shape State Coercion’, 44 International Security (2019) Ian Goldin and Mike Mariathasan, The Butterfly Defect: How Globalization Creates Systemic Risks, and What to Do about It (2014) Ted G. Lewis , Bak's Sand Pile: Strategies for a Catastrophic World (2011) James Mahoney and Kathleen Thelen, Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power (2010) Thomas Oatley, Toward a poliJames Mahoney and Kathleen Thelen, Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power (2010) tical economy of complex interdependence, European Journal of International Relations 1 (2019) Charles Perrow, Normal Accidents (1984) Charles Perrow, The Next Catastrophe (2011) Nasim Taleb, The Black Swan (2007) and Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (2012) Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner, Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction (2015)