Panarchy

"An integrative theory to help us understand the source and role of change in systems- particularly kinds of changes that are transforming and take place in systems that are adaptive. Such changes comprise economic, ecological, and social systems, and they are evolutionary. They concern rapidly unfolding processes and slowly changing ones; gradual change and episodic change; and they take place and interact at many scales from local to global.
The cross-scale and dynamic nature of the theory led to the newly coined term - Panarchy. The term was created as an antethesis to the word hierarchy in its original meaning of a set of sacred rules. Panarchy is a framework of nature's rules, hinted at by the name of the Greek god of nature- Pan - whose persona also evokes an image of unpredictable change."
- from the Resilience Alliance website

Comments

[gail taylor]

One of the defining elements of the next paradigm will be transparent iterative processes such as we have in open source, open innovation, and open learning. I wonder when we will realize radical/open democracy. Is this kind of panarchy possible?