How do actors undertake institutional design in complex systems? Scholars recognize that many international regimes are becoming increasingly complex. Yet relatively little is known about how actors design or redesign institutions amid this complexity. As participant-observers in the UN negotiations on investment treaty reform, we have watched state officials and other participants grapple with this question for several years. To help explain what we have observed, we conceptualize these participants as complex designers—actors who seek to design and redesign institutions within complex adaptive systems. We then formulate three emergent design principles that seem to guide their approach as they aim to create: flexible structures, balanced content, and adaptive management processes. In a dynamic era marked by unpredictability, division, and complex transnational challenges, we believe these concepts may prove to be increasingly relevant in global governance.

中文翻译：

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复杂设计师和应急设计：改革投资条约体系

参与者如何在复杂系统中进行制度设计？学者们认识到，许多国际制度正变得越来越复杂。然而，在这种复杂性中，参与者如何设计或重新设计机构却知之甚少。作为联合国投资条约改革谈判的参与者和观察者，我们看到国家官员和其他参与者多年来一直在努力解决这个问题。为了帮助解释我们观察到的情况，我们将这些参与者概念化为复杂的设计师——寻求在复杂的自适应系统中设计和重新设计机构的参与者。然后，我们制定了三个新兴设计原则，这些原则似乎指导他们的方法，因为他们的目标是创造：灵活的结构、平衡的内容和适应性管理流程。在一个以不可预测、分裂、