Creating Adaptive Policies: A Guide for Policy-making in an Uncertain World

ISBN 978-81-321-0147-5
e-ISBN 978-1-55250-467-3

Today’s policy-maker has a tough job to do. Policies that cannot perform effectively under today’s complex, dynamic, and uncertain conditions run the risk of not achieving their intended purpose. Instead of helping, they may actually hinder the ability of individuals, communities, and businesses to cope with and adapt to change.

Creating Adaptive Policies: A Guide for Policy-making in an Uncertain World is the very first book to distill the principles of complex adaptive systems and adaptive management into practical guidance for policy-makers. It describes the concept of adaptive policy-making and presents seven tools for developing such policies. Based on hundreds of interviews from over a dozen policy case studies, this book serves as a pragmatic guide for policy-makers by elaborating these seven tools. It will be an invaluable information resource for technical policy-makers, politicians, and their advisors, as well as for those studying politics and international relations.

THE EDITORS

Darren Swanson is a Senior Project Manager working with the Measurement and Assessment Program at the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Canada.

Suruchi Bhadwal is an Area Convener of the Centre for Global Environment Research at The Energy and Resources Institute in India.