Critical realism and complexity theory: Building a nonconstructivist systems research framework for effective governance analysis

• Published in: Systems research and behavioral science Vol. 38; no. 1; pp. 177 - 183
• Main Author: Yang, Yi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.01.2021; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; Wiley Periodicals Inc
• Subjects: Complexity theory; Constructivism; Critical realism; Empirical analysis; Governance; Interactive systems; Public administration; public management; Strength; System effectiveness; systems research

Complexity theory (CT) intends to reveal public management's unpredictable side but its empirical applications are scarce due to prevailing constructivist approaches that collapse larger systematic outcomes into micro agent actions and conflate them into movements of co‐constitution and co‐evol...