ABSTRACT

Scholars across the social sciences, including in the studies of institutions and policy, have found useful various elements of evolutionary and complexity research. Though sharing the same worldview, these streams of research emphasize different aspects of change and lack a shared set of assumptions and tools. As a result, they remain largely disconnected. Inspired by innovation research and its novel theory of change in technological systems, this article aims to bridge these gaps and advance a unified view of policy change called the structure-in-evolution approach. The structure-in-evolution analysis accounts for both the dynamics and the structure of change by positing that policy systems, like other technological systems, evolve according to distinct patterns and exhibit complex and adaptive properties of such systems. This approach, the article argues, thus promises not only to integrate our understanding of evolutionary change but also a major leap forward in our ability to study and develop public policy.

摘要

社会科学领域的学者，包括机构和政策研究领域的学者，已经发现了进化和复杂性研究的各种有用要素。尽管拥有相同的世界观，但这些研究流强调变化的不同方面，缺乏一套共同的假设和工具。结果，它们在很大程度上仍然断开连接。受创新研究及其关于技术系统变革的新颖理论的启发，本文旨在弥合这些差距，并提出一种统一的政策变革观点，称为进化中的结构方法。演化中的结构分析通过假设政策系统像其他技术系统一样根据不同的模式发展并表现出此类系统的复杂和适应性特性，从而解释了变化的动态和结构。这种方法，