Evolving Institutions
By Ian
What insight might be gained from considering institutions as an evolving system in the same way we might view an ecosystem? That's the question posed over at the Complexity Blog.
One major focus in political science is the role of institutions, particularly for social choice problems. I was thinking about the relation of individual policy decisions and the institutional framework within which they are made and it occurred to me that the relationship has some analogies to the relationship of species evolution and ecological change. Specifically, analogies exist with regard to the i) time scales, the ii) forces exerted on each other, iii) endogenous stability, and iv) susceptibility to exogenous perturbations.
A thoughtful post, and if you're at all interested in the topics of complexity or agent-based modeling, the site is worth a regular read.