Social Complexity

Wars and conflicts have been a key determinant of international system dynamics. The end of the Cold War was especially noteworthy as a new era for all actors in terms of policy making and international dynamics. Then 9/11 completely changed perception of war and American unilateralism triumph shaped the system based on security. As former President Bush said "a new era has started", in this new order Turkey became more vital for US in its war on terrorism. Although Turkey has never been considered as great power, due its geographical position and historical legacy Turkey is a unique partner. That's why Turkey's foreign policy has been influenced and is also influential. That's why war, peace or any social events in real life should be considered and reanalyzed by nonlinearity and chaos theory. Balance of power and keeping the status quo have been the determinant elements of Turkish foreign policy for the last 50 years.

This paper aims at highlighting a methodological flaw in current biblical archaeology, which became apparent as a result of recent research in the Aravah's Iron Age copper production centers. In essence, this flaw, which cuts across all schools of biblical archaeology, is the prevailing, overly simplistic approach applied to the identification and interpretation of nomadic elements in biblical-era societies. These elements have typically been described as representing only one form of social organization, which is simple and almost negligible in historical reconstructions. However, the unique case of the Aravah demonstrates that the role of nomads in shaping the history of the southern Levant has been underestimated and downplayed in the research of the region, and that the total reliance on stone-built archaeological features in the identification of social complexity in the vast majority of recent studies has resulted in skewed historical reconstructions. Recognizing this "architectural bias" and understanding its sources have important implications on core issues in biblical archaeology today, as both "minimalists" and "maximalists" have been using stone-built architectural remains as the key to solving debated issues related to the geneses of Ancient Israel and neighboring polities (e.g., "high" vs. "low" Iron Age chronologies), in which-according to both biblical accounts and external sources-nomadic elements played a major role.

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the phenomenon frequently called the “Ubaid expansion” or “Ubaid interaction sphere” in which the material culture of Southern Mesopotamia appears in Upper Mesopotamia and the bordering mountains during the 6th-5th millennium. The paper will also attempt to explain how did the “Ubaid expansion” contribute to the formation of hierarchical societies in Greater Mesopotamia. Indeed, the biggest weakness of the model of expansion (drawn from the subsequent “Uruk expansion”) is that it ignores multiregional character of the Ubaid interaction sphere and describes the culture contact between south and north Mesopotamia as a core-periphery dichotomy. Uruk expansion was probably an actual colonial phenomenon, but it is difficult to use the same argument to explain the “Ubaid expansion”. Several arguments (exchange, colonization, emulation and technology transfer) have been proposed for the widespread dissemination of Ubaid material culture in Upper Mesopotamia. The present paper proposes to outline and discuss these competing arguments in the hope of contributing to the early complex societies literature and to answer how and why the Ubaid expansion emerged.

[Publication is in Norwegian] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: QUESTIONS OF «ONTOLOGY»: STEPS TOWARDS A REALISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY The Norwegian Research Council has evaluated Norwegian anthropology and concluded that the discipline is ethnographically strong, but defensive when it comes to theoretical contributions. Researchers are now actively following up the critique through a series of theory-oriented projects. It is interesting to observe that none of these initiatives refers to what I term «classical Norwegian social anthropology»-the scholarly tradition of Fredrik Barth. It seems that «theory develop-ment» is interpreted as «contemporary international debate». The article is critical of this break and suggests that there may be theoretical potentials in the Norwegian tradition that are overlooked in the attempt to «keep up with the times». In particular, I endorse the realistic position that characterizes «classical Norwegian social anthropology» and suggest that a strengthening of this position in terms of Roy Bhaskar's critical realism may contribute a theoretical alternative to contemporary anthropological orientations.

The concept of “rewilding” has made its way into popular culture in recent years, describing a network of supporting the health of the environment and humanity itself through the cultivation of un-cultivated spaces within existing structures. This paper looks at recent cutting-edge works in literary criticism and theory to see how they handle this growing contemporary impulse to defer to wildness, ie. Complexity, as the “natural” form of cultural and biological processes.

Het document bevat achtergrondinformatie over verbondenheid als kernthema bij het doen van onderzoek vanuit ecologisch-pedagogisch perspectief. Doelgroep: onder andere master studenten die aan de gang gaan en zijn met hun praktijkgericht wetenschappelijk

Insect societies -colonies of ants, bees, wasps and termites -vary enormously in their social complexity. Social complexity is a broadly used term that encompasses many individual and colony-level traits and characteristics such as colony size, polymorphism and foraging strategy. A number of earlier studies have considered the relationships among various correlates of social complexity in insect societies ; in this review, we build upon those studies by proposing additional correlates and show how all correlates can be integrated in a common explanatory framework. The various correlates are divided among four broad categories (sections). Under ' polyphenism ' we consider the differences among individuals, in particular focusing upon ' caste ' and specialization of individuals. This is followed by a section on ' totipotency ' in which we consider the autonomy and subjugation of individuals. Under this heading we consider various aspects such as intracolony conflict, worker reproductive potential and physiological or morphological restrictions which limit individuals ' capacities to perform a range of tasks or functions. A section entitled ' organization of work ' considers a variety of aspects, e.g. the ability to tackle group, team or partitioned tasks, foraging strategies and colony reliability and efficiency. A final section, ' communication and functional integration ', considers how individual activity is coordinated to produce an integrated and adaptive colony. Within each section we use illustrative examples drawn from the social insect literature (mostly from ants, for which there is the best data) to illustrate concepts or trends and make a number of predictions concerning how a particular trait is expected to correlate with other aspects of social complexity. Within each section we also expand the scope of the arguments to consider these relationships in a much broader sense of ' sociality ' by drawing parallels with other ' social ' entities such as multicellular individuals, which can be understood as ' societies ' of cells. The aim is to draw out any parallels and common causal relationships among the correlates. Two themes run through the study. The first is the role of colony size as an important factor affecting social complexity. The second is the complexity of individual workers in relation to the complexity of the colony. Consequently, this is an ideal opportunity to test a previously proposed hypothesis that ' individuals of highly social ant species are less complex than individuals from simple ant species ' in light of numerous social correlates. Our findings support this hypothesis. In summary, we conclude that, in general, complex societies are characterized by large colony size, worker polymorphism, strong behavioural specialization and loss of totipotency in its workers, low individual complexity, decentralized colony control and high system redundancy, low individual competence, a high degree of worker cooperation when tackling tasks, group foraging strategies, high tempo, multi-chambered tailor-made nests, high functional integration, relatively greater use of cues and modulatory signals to coordinate individuals and heterogeneous patterns of worker-worker interaction.

Some thought spent on the sad disintegration of Europe and the termination of democracy. After Brexit and several battles of regions striving for more autonomy in Europe, we now face a horrendously violent crisis in Catalonia, of which Europe is not only the witness, but also an active promoter. All representatives of European institutions fail to understand that they cannot stand passively watching at the butchery of democracy committed by Spain against Catalo-nia. Passivity here is the equivalent of active brutality. European leaders know this crisis has been building up for decades, if not even centuries. And all European leaders failed understanding how trauma through oppression derives in popular surge, like we see it now in Catalonia. Europe is not a safe space for democracy. Europe has not reworked its trauma and its trauma implication through feudal structures based on greed, fame, violence and domination. The violence rackets in Europe are still active through representatives of few families playing what epigenetics have inscribed in their genes, the game of fierce dominance. Europe never deserved the Peace Nobel, and it deserves it even less now in the face of the crisis in Catalonia. Sadly enough, we can witness European leaders are repeating patterns as in early 1930s until 1935, allowing for brute force to subjugate the will of citizens in Catalonia who simply are tired of the abuses committed by a plutocracy reigning with impunity in Europe but even more so in Spain. We shall remember that European leaders left Catalan citizens alone facing a Spanish dictator and his fellow NAZI friends. We shall understand that history has changed, humanity progressed at least partly, but some patterns of history repeat.

Social Legal Theory (SLT) has been heralded as the “third pillar” of jurisprudence, offering a social scientific alternative to the rational relativity of legal positivism and the moral determinism of natural law. Yet recently SLT’s most ardent champion, Professor Brian Tamanaha, appears to have broken ranks. Assuming a “holistic” perspective, Tamanaha now contends that law “emerges” from both social and naturalistic influences. This move not only undermines SLT, it seemingly transforms that view into the existing theory of jurisilience, which uses the holistic epistemology of consilience to provide a bio-socio-cultural account of law’s essence.

Despite outward appearances, however, these approaches are far from identical. Unlike the revamped version of SLT, which is ontologically constrained and conflicted, jurisilience explains law’s emergence through systems science and cutting-edge sociology. It shows that law is not a simple assemblage of social and/or natural forces. Instead, it is a complex information network of interdependent “jurisystems.” Grounded in our natural need for homeostasis, human legality originates in our genetic and neurobiological systems, scales up to our normative social systems, and becomes externalized as a supreme system of formal law. Once entrenched, law does not remain stagnant, but continuously coordinates human conflicts, relieves social stress, and reinforces social bonds. Over time, law’s dynamism changes social behavior and cultural memory, initiating a cycle of epigenetics and gene-culture coevolution that renews our biological disposition for legality. Given law’s systemic nature, any socio-centric jurisprudence now seems obsolete. The fact is, jurisilience and jurisystems do not just systematize SLT; they systematize SLT right out of existence.

A complexity-friendly, SenseMaker-based approach to understanding how to build sustainable livelihoods and communities in conditions of high uncertainty and change. The tool also detected underlying attitudinal change among participants in UNDP Yemen programmes.

This article argues for a new kind of country study, now more than ever needed for international understanding. Like an ecosystem, or the human brain, each and every nation-state is a system of systems, a dynamic composite of many interconnected subsystems. So its complexity should be studied accordingly, that is to say, by scientists willing to cooperate and using the latest in system analysis, computer science, and informatics. In order to comprehend the complexity of countries, one-sidedness – no matter its disguise – should be avoided. 'Connect!' is the call on scientists interested in the study of a particular country.

Early Settlers of the INSULAR CARIBBEAN Early Settlers of the Insular Caribbean: Dearchaizing the Archaic offers a comprehensive coverage of the most recent advances in interdiscipli-nary research on the early human settling of the Caribbean islands. It covers the time span of the so-called Archaic Age and focuses on the Middle to Late Holocene period which-depending on specific case studies discussed in this volume-could range between 6000 BC and AD 1000. A similar approach to the early settlers of the Caribbean islands has never been published in one volume, impeding the realization of a holistic view on indigenous peoples' settling, subsistence, movements, and interactions in this vast and naturally diversified macroregion. Delivered by a panel of international experts, this book provides recent and new data in the fields of archaeology, collection studies, palaeo botany, geomorphology, paleoclimate and bioarchaeology that challenge currently existing perspectives on early human settlement patterns, subsistence strategies, migration routes and mobility and exchange. This publication compiles new approaches to 'old' data and museum collections, presents the results of starch grain analysis, paleo-coring, seascape modelling, and network analysis. Moreover, it features newer published data from the islands such as Margarita and Aruba. All the above-mentioned data compiled in one volume fills the gap in scholarly literature, transforms some of the interpretations in vogue and enables the integration of the first settlers of the insular Caribbean into the larger Pan-American perspective. This book not only provides scholars and students with compelling new and interdisciplinary perspectives on the Early Settlers of the Insular Caribbean. It is also of interest to unspecialized readers as it discusses subjects related to archaeology, anthropology, and-broadly speaking-to the intersections between humanities and social and environmental sciences, which are of great interest to the present-day general public. Sidestone

By considering the tourist experience as a complex dynamic system, in this paper we depict the traveler as a kybernetes (κυβερνήτης is the ancient Greek word for ‘sea captain’, ‘steersman’, or governor’) in search of powerful tools to help him or her to obtain directions in the mare magnum of complexity, overcoming the fear of action and taking decisions. We focus our attention on the key role of Near Field Communication technology and mobile wallet as ‘attenuators of complexity’ in the travel and tourism industry.

During the environmentally influenced demise of the Moche of Peru (A.D. 200-800), new archaeological and bioarchaeological data provide evidence that sites chose differential responses of resilience, including forging new political alliances, expanding economic production, and adopting new religious practices. Biodistance analysis shows that adjacent, highland Cajamarca peoples arrived in the Jequetepeque Valley and interbred with local inhabitants interred at San Jose de Mora during both the Late Moche (A.D. 650-800) and subsequent Transitional (A .D. 800-900) periods. Culturally, local ceramicists at San Jose de Moro reflected this influence by experimenting with hybrid vessels that blended local Moche forms and designs with highland ones. By contrast, recent excavations at the site of Talambo-located at the lower neck of the Jequetepeque Valley-indicate that the changes detected at San Jose de Mora and other sites in the valley were not uniform. Specifically, almost no evidence for adjacent highland influence was found at Talambo. Instead, investigation of independent craft production at Ta-lambo indicates that local artisans thrived during the transition from the Late Moche through Lambayeque (A .D. 800-1100) periods with minimal stylistic hybridization. We suggest that unlike changes noted elsewhere in the Jequetepeque Valley, the population at Talambo was able to moderate external influence and remain economically independent during a period of political and environmental instability.

The article explores the cultural practice of ukuthwala and illustrates how it has digressed from a traditional practice to a merely criminal act. It draws a distinction between the pure customary practice of ukuthwala and its current distorted form and further examines how the practice results in the sexual exploitation and abuse of children. The article draws on the primary authors’ experience in the criminal investigation of child trafficking cases and two actual case studies are discussed to highlight how the traditional form of ukuthwala has been distorted and become a criminal act. The traditional themes of the ukuthwala practice are highlighted  in both case studies and an attempt is made by the authors to explore whether there are possible common dynamics between ukuthwala and child trafficking. An African theory of the causes of crime is applied in an attempt to explore the  multitude of variables which contribute to this complex phenomenon. Finally, the  article underscores the psychosocial impact of ukuthwala on child victims and the wider ripple effect on society as a whole and addresses societies' seeming reluctance to become involved or challenge the harmful form of this practice. Recommendations  for policy and further research are suggested.

A more-than-human sensibility is founded upon an awareness of the fundamentally entangled fates of humans and non-humans, from the individual body to the planetary scale. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential impact of such insights on urban planning theory and methodology. I will focus upon exploring possible resources
that could serve to institutionalize such a more-than-human sensibility into an everyday practice of urban planning which still today can be described as a ‘tightly woven modernist fabric’. From this angle I review two suggested approaches for radically reforming planning
practice: critical planning and technical democracy. I conclude that the ambitions of these reform projects are laudable but that they are fundamentally problematic in that their self-image of limitless inclusiveness makes them blind to the foundational, radical exclusions
they themselves perform. As a minor contribution towards an alternative approach, I offer a suggestion for a broad ‘work specification’ aiming at the development of a more-than-human
planning methodology. It center-stages the need to find ways to responsibly confront all the difficult questions concerning how, in a world marked by profound relational complexity, urban planning practices that aim to enable the flourishing of some entities and
futures inevitably demand the neglect, othering or active eradication of other beings, things and/or potential developments.

The thesis deals with spatial structure and chronological development of the early Lengyel Culture (4900-4700 cal BC) settlement at the site Svodín - Busahegy in Nové Zámky district, SW Slovakia. The approach is based on the settlement area theory and more generally on the theory of artefacts. The used evidence consists finds from 1756 features, of which 679 belong to the Lengyel Culture and 184 are burials. The work includes a comprehensive electronic catalogue containing all relevant find documentation, localization plans of the trenches and features, plans of archaeological structures, belonging to different phases of the Lengyel culture settlement. The methodical chapters describe a process for direct digitization of ceramic fragments by laser scanning of profiles and automated reconstruction of ceramic shapes. The elaboration of chronology is based on the observed stratigraphic relations and typological analysis of the finds. Morphometric analysis and multivariate statistical methods were applied for the computerized typological classification of 1992 profiles of ceramic vessels. Find units were assigned to chronological phases based on a stochastic model, which integrates stratigraphic and typo-chronological data. A set of solutions was computed using hybrid particle swarm optimisation and genetic algorithm analysed by Monte Carlo simulation using Markov chains and interpreted in terms of Bayesian Statistics. Based on the spatial distribution of archaeological structures, three residential, three funerary and one rondel component have been identified in the settlement area. The final solution of the chronological model divides the settlement into seven phases, three pre-rondel phases, two phases in which subsequently the smaller and the larger rondels were built and two post-rondel phases. A spatial differentiation of settlement area based on social aspects was observed, and a possible association of the localization of the rondels with previous residential structures. In addition of burials in the vicinity of houses for the entire duration of the settlement, we also observe a separate burial area in the pre-rondel period. The typological composition of pottery shows a strong influence from the area Tisza culture, especially in the pre-rondel period. The usability of seriation and multivariate statistical methods for chronological ordering of find units was critically assessed based on the analysis of typo-chronological development of grave inventories.

This article explores the concept of transdisciplinarity as a cultural endeavor. It centers on the concept of transdisciplinary hermeneutics, as a form of contextualizing science in the framework of cultural ideas, subjective experiences of the researchers involved in the research process, and of imagination and the artful creation of possible new realities. The concept is rooted in the work of Basarab Nicolescu and the Paris based CIRET, the " Centre International de Recherches et Études Transdisciplinaires. " In this approach, reality is seen as complex and multilayered, and cannot be known only through the lens of modern science. Philosophy, art and subjective experience are essential and complementary ways of knowledge production that provide context to scientific knowledge, giving it meaning and perspective. To be able to engage in transdisciplinary hermeneutics, researchers need to complement cognitive knowing with embodied and enacted knowing. They as well need to combine the formal and science-based language of what is seen and measured, with the poetic, polyphonic and metaphorical language of what is unseen but sensed, felt and envisioned. The article finally sketches the importance of two competencies that transdisciplinary researchers need to acquire, the competencies of mindfulness and of transdisciplinary dialogue of knowledges.

It is not possible to speak of a single systems approach. There are rather of a number of systems approaches, each loosely drawing on different aspects of a family composed mainly of, general system theory, cybernetics, information theory, chaos theory, and complexity theory. Systems approaches have been used in most of the social sciences, particularly sociology and management, but their use has extended into the arts and humanities.Creativity researchers have used systems approaches drawing on very different sources and in very different ways. The main focus has been to highlight creativity as a phenomenon that occurs in the context of multiple systems, and therefore involves a network of interactions.

Políticas públicas y complejidad políticas públicas Políticas Políticas PÚBLICAS y complejidad PÚBLICAS y complejidad en búsqueda de soluciones a los problemas públicos Louis Valentin Mballa Louis Valentin Mballa

La importancia de las políticas públicas hoy en día, estriba en que constituyen el cordón umbilical entre la sociedad y el Estado. Asimismo, potencializar este lazo congenial, implica adoptar una visión de tipo instrumental considerando que las políticas públicas son herramientas, es decir, "un medio para la resolución de los problemas públicos". El gran reto o desafío no sólo es para el analista de las políticas públicas, sino también para los agentes encargados de ejecutarlas, es interiorizar e institucionalizar el hecho de que las unidades que componen el sistema de las políticas públicas, aun teniendo identidad propia, también tienen una identidad común hacia el mismo sistema, porque están sujetas a sus reglas sistémicas y organizacionales. Se puede enfrentar ese desafío sólo si se logra concebir a las políticas públicas como una estructura diferenciada (totalidad), con identidad propia (autonomía); esto desde el supuesto de que las políticas públicas no son relaciones mecánicas del tipo medio-fin, de ejecución automática, en las que lo decidido en la fase de formulación es o debe ser exactamente lo que va a dar sentido a la razón de ser de las políticas públicas. Por el contrario, es preciso considerar que las políticas públicas constituyen una compleja interconexión de procesos en la cual, los problemas públicos deben ser constantemente redefinidos, reinventados y reorientados hacia su solución.

English Summary:


This remarkable book is the fruit of 30 years of investigations of two archaeologists, husband and wife, Maria Magdalena and Andrzej Antczak, on the pre-Hispanic archaeology of the majestic Los Roques Archipelago, Venezuela. The uniqueness of the Los Roques Archipelago within the panorama of insular pre-colonial archaeology in the Americas centers on the discovery of more than 400 human clay figurines on one small island, Dos Mosquises, along with elaborate primary ritual contexts and the remains of a gargantuan queen conch (lobatus gigas) exploitation enterprise. This book is the winner of two of the highest scientific publication awards in Venezuela (2006 & 2009).


Resumen en Español:


Desde el título de este volumen de indiscutible valor, la palabra “prometidas” aplica oportunamente a nuestro maravilloso archipiélago venezolano de Los Roques la alegoría bíblica que coloca al final de un exigente camino hermosas tierras, donde corren ríos de leche y miel. Hacia estas islas con abundantes recursos marinos, entre los cuales destaca el gran caracol marino llamado ‘botuto’, se dirigían las canoas indígenas durante al menos cuatro siglos antes de la conquista europea. Las campañas de explotación de los recursos en las islas dependían del éxito de la actividad ceremonial, testimoniada por centenares de figurinas humanas, incensarios, ocarinas y pipas cerámicas, flautas de hueso y silbatos de concha, recuperados por los arqueólogos en complejos contextos primarios.

La presencia de esta diversidad de objetos en los campamentos temporales de las pequeñas islas oceánicas es un fenómeno excepcional en la arqueología del Caribe. En este sentido, la publicación de esta monografía es el cumplimiento de un prolongado esfuerzo y de un caro anhelo por proporcionar al lector una explicación sólida y coherente de este fenómeno arqueológico único. Es también el final de una importante etapa de ese camino verdaderamente exigente de la investigación arqueológica. A través de sus páginas, con un soporte teórico documental de inusual solidez y pertinencia, se difunde el fruto de muchos años de perseverante dedicación para sus autores, María Magdalena Mackowiak de Antczak y Andrzej Antczak, arqueólogos y antropólogos vinculados desde hace tiempo con la Universidad Simón Bolívar.

Se trata, sin duda, de una obra mayor, enriquecida por 1500 ilustraciones y más de 200 tablas, que describe hallazgos arqueológicos excepcionales recuperados de manera sistemática durante más de 60 campañas de trabajo de campo, y desarrolla propuestas verdaderamente seminales para el entendimiento del significado y la valoración del legado prehispánico en Venezuela y, en especial, en sus territorios insulares.

Este volumen ha sido concebido no solamente como lectura referencial para profesionales y estudiantes de arqueología y antropología, sino también esta dirigido al lector no especializado que puede sentirse atraído por el vibrante, colorido y desconocido pasado prehispánico presentado en estas páginas. También, a través de esta monografía los autores aspiran a infundir El Orgullo por el Pasado, el lema que orienta sus trabajos de investigación y docencia.

Este vasto y complejo proyecto editorial ha sido posible gracias a la concertación de un gran equipo profesional y una venturosa alianza de nuestra Universidad con Banesco y Petrozuata, confluencias que celebramos también como promesas felizmente cumplidas.

El libro ha recibido numerosos premios nacionales incluyendo:

IV Premio Nacional del Libro 2006, Mejor Libro Científico otorgado por el Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Cultura.

2009 Premio Alterno por Mejor Investigación en Ciencias Sociales, otorgado por la ASOVAC (Asociación Venezolana para el Avance de la Ciencia).

2007 Premio Andrés Bello para la Mejor Investigación en Ciencias Sociales otorgado por la Universidad Simón Bolívar.

Although the Mississippian standard jar, a specific vessel form found in many parts of the Mississippian cultural world, has
long been recognized as a utilitarian cooking pot, the important connection between this ceramic form and maize has largely
been overlooked. By focusing on the Mississippian site of Moundville located in the Black Warrior valley of west-central
Alabama, I propose that the Mississippian standard jar was not simply a general cooking pot, but instead a specialized
culinary tool used to nixtamalize maize. As such, both the vessel and the plant were part of a cohesive ancestral hominy
foodway. This relationship is demonstrated in two ways: first, by articulating both the hominy foodway and the antecedent
nut foodway practiced between A.D. 1020–1260; and, second, by exploring changes in the morphology and use-alteration
patterns of the Moundville Mississippian standard jars recovered from contexts dating to the Moundville I-III phases (A.D.
1120–1520). The relationship between vessel and food demonstrated here suggests a practice- and taste-based model for the synergistic relationship long recognized between maize and the emergence of the Mississippian civic-ceremonial center
of Moundville.

This qualitative study investigated the lived experiences of highly sensitive persons (HSPs) to better understand the way they experience careers.  Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is the underlying personality trait and is present in approximately 20 percent of the population, equally distributed across gender and racial lines.  SPS is considered a non-normative personality trait in some Western societies and subcultures.  Thus, many HSPs experience difficulty finding an appropriate match between innate temperament and career.   
This qualitative research perspective employed semi-structured interviews with 35 participants recruited through social media web sites and snowball sampling.  Participants in the study were primarily from the U.S., but also from five foreign countries.  Participants were chosen based on answers to a recruitment questionnaire and Elaine Aron’s HSP Self-Test.  Major findings reveal a complex, interwoven dynamic interplay between nine major themes: (1) empathy, (2) childhood’s influence, (3) self-care, (4) a rich inner life, (5) creativity, (6) high sensation-seeking, (7) the sociological perspective, (8) the experience of work, and (9) the integral being.  The significance of this study is that it is the first of its kind to investigate this topic in a systematic, scientific manner.

This volume honours the very significant contribution to Cypriot archaeology made by Alison South, whose excavations at Kalavasos Ayios Dhimitrios have revealed textbook evidence for complex society in the latter half of the Late Bronze Age. Contributions from an international group of scholars focus primarily on the Late Bronze Age but include chapters on the Chalcolithic, the earlier Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Kalavasos Ayios Dhimitrios provides the inspiration for a number of chapters which explore the size and structure of this major urban settlement and its wider region and assess the agricultural base which supported both its elite and non-elite population. Other chapters present new evidence from old and current excavation and survey projects, with a focus both on mortuary and settlement data, and examine the agrarian foundation of regional control structures—providing fresh insights into how elites acquire control over human and material resources and how individuals come to cede their own power to organise to those with power over organisations. This volume will be of interest to scholars concerned with the emergence of wealth, status and gender inequality and the growth of complex socio-economic and political configurations in the ancient world.

To extend previous consideration of cognitive factors in celebrity worship, the aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between celebrity worship, cognitive flexibility and social complexity. Two samples of non-student (n ¼ 260) and student respondents (n ¼ 168) completed measures of entertainmentsocial, intense-personal, borderline-pathological celebrity worship, cognitive flexibility and social complexity. Findings suggest that cognitive flexibility predicts unique variance in intense-personal aspects of celebrity worship. These findings help researchers to further conceptualise and understand the individual who follows a celebrity in an intense and personal way.

The iconography of a stela recently found in Almadén de la Plata (Seville, Spain), showing a pair of human figures portraying rather distinctive attributes, poses a number of challenges to the conventional wisdom attached to these monuments in terms of mythological constructs and power structures. Similarly, the intensive survey fieldwork carried out at the location of this particular find and its surroundings suggests that more emphasis has to be put on the diachronic dimension of the local cultural traditions these outstanding monuments were part of.

The current era is witnessing serious geopolitical changes during the Arab spring and its waves in the Arab countries specifically. This geopolitics change is reflecting serious geostrategic changes on the OIC (Organization of Islamic Countries) as well, which causes serious impacts on all OIC internally and externally. Under the forum theme “Unity in diversity: Source of power”, the paper introduces some crucial geostrategic concepts to develop common national and regional understanding in order to avoid geostrategic confrontation, and to exploit the strategic opportunities. The paper calls for geostrategic interests’ integration management, and for reaching the point of geostrategic equilibrium so as to start developing, what is called by the writer, geostrategic regional initiatives. This paper will propose crucial strategic imperatives within the context of the complex dynamic of the Arab spring’s transitional period and its impact on the region in order to support the unity of the OIC countries in this dilemma.

Drawing extensively on the research findings of natural and social sciences both in America and Europe, Reframing the Social argues for a critical realist and systemist social ontology, designed to shed light on current debates in social theory concerning the relationship of social ontology to practical social research, and the nature of "the social." It explores the works of the systems theorist Mario Bunge in comparison with the approach of Niklas Luhmann and critical social systems theorists, to challenge the commonly held view that the systems-based approach is holistic in nature and necessarily downplays the role of human agency.

Theoretically sophisticated and investigating the work of a theorist whose work has until now received insufficient attention in Anglo-American thought, this book will be of interest to those working in the field of social theory, as well as scholars concerned with philosophy of social science, the project of analytical sociology, and the nature of the relationship between the natural and social sciences.


Reviews:

“This is the clearest and most comprehensive discussion of contemporary social ontology. The author's definitions and illustrations of such key concepts as those of system, process, mechanism, and emergence, often used sloppily, are lucid. And his evaluation of the competing theories is magisterial. This book should greatly help any social theorists and philosophers seeking clarity and depth.” (Mario Bunge, McGill University, Canada)
 
“Poe Yu-ze Wan has produced an impressive book that brings social systems theory into the twenty-first century. In a beautifully well-judged argument that deserves to be widely read, he shows how social theorists are moving towards mechanismic explanation and ‘emergentist systemism’ – and why they are right to do so.” (Dave Elder-Vass, Loughborough University, UK)

“Every scholar interested in this literature needs to read this book simply to be able to claim that he or she is acquainted with the state of the art and with the now staggering breadth of writings on the various inter-related subjects.” (Omar Lizardo, University of Notre Dame, US)

“Whoever wishes to become introduced to the contemporary philosophical debate on causality (with special reference to social causality) cannot do better than studying this book.” (Wolfgang Krohn, University of Bielefeld, Germany)

“…dieses Klar gegliederte und flüssig geschriebene Buch…. Auch kann dieses Buch jedem zu Diensten sein, der sich einen konzisen Überblick über die Probleme und Argumente zu verschaffen sucht, welche die Entwicklung einer wissenschaftstheoretisch informierten „erklärenden Soziologie“ nicht erst seit jüngster Zeit begleiten.” (Michael Schmid, Bundeswehr University Munich, Germany)

This thesis provides a theoretical basis for applying complexity theory to classroom learning.
Existing accounts of complexity in social systems fail to adequately situate human understanding within those systems.  Human understanding and action is embedded within the complex systems that we inhabit.  As such, we cannot achieve a full and accurate representation of those systems.  This challenges epistemological positions which characterise learning as a simple mechanistic process, those which see it as approaching a view of the world ‘as it is’ and also positions which see learning as a purely social activity.
This thesis develops a materialist position which characterises understandings as emergent from, but not reducible to, the material world.  The roles of embodied neural networks as well as our linguistic and symbolic systems are considered in order to develop this materialist position.  Context and history are shown to be important within complex systems and allow novel understandings to emerge.  Furthermore, shared understandings are seen as emergent from processes of response, replication and manipulation of patterns of behaviour and patterns of association.  Thus the complexity of learning is accounted for within a coherent ontological and epistemological framework.
The implications of this materialist position for considering classroom learning are expounded.  Firstly, our models and descriptions of classrooms are reconciled with the view of our understandings as sophisticated yet incomplete models within complex social systems.  Models are characterised as themselves material entities which emerge within social systems and may go on to influence behaviour.  Secondly, contemporary accounts of learning as the conceptual representation of the world are challenged.

The notion of a “crisis of the future” was introduced by French philosopher Edgar Morin (Morin & Kern, 1999). It refers to the loss of the possibility of progress, as well as a loss of a sense of what progress even means or might look like. As a result, there is a loss of direction, of possibility, and of value (our sense of what constitutes progress reflects what we value). This loss is exacerbated by the fear of environmental, nuclear, or other catastrophes. Positive visions of the future are replaced in popular culture by dystopian, post-apocalyptic scenarios. It is unclear how to even think about the future, or what might be more desirable futures. Morin interprets the term crisis in one of its original meanings, as the moment when a diagnosis is possible, and this is what makes his approach particularly relevant.

"The megalithic tomb at Montelirio is off the scale in more ways than one. As well as being the largest example of its type known in Spain, the burial goods secreted in its subterranean chambers are unsurpassed in both quantity and quality. Leonardo García Sanjuán reveals what the dead of Montelirio can tell us about Copper Age society."

Research on the theoretical conceptualisations and research methods informing current change agency theory and practice in the field of Organisation Theory (OT) in general, and Organisational Change and Development (OCD) in particular, are deficient to engage with the inherently complex nature of business organisations. The dominant paradigm applied in organisational change interventions assumes that change happens through linear cause and effect approaches, which can be enhanced by technical skills, with the aim of maximising optimisation strategies. The theoretical and practical contributions by organisational scholars to important mainstream debates on alternative conceptualisations and methods to explore and re-think change agency have been limited.

The purpose of this dissertation is to cultivate and foster a re-think of the role of change agents in OCD interventions by employing a critical complexity lens to shift their current spiritual identity praxis towards co-creating alternative complexity-informed change agency praxis. The following framings are explored: new avenues for providing complexity-informed interpretations of change, organisational structure and function in general, but more specifically alternative change agency as informed by identity and spirituality in OCD interventions. 

A critical complexity lens is adopted for exploring and re-thinking the interactional nature of both identity and spirituality of change agents. The study highlights these notions as possible entry points for reflecting on novel change agency praxis. It is argued that the notion of ‘spiritual identity praxis’ (ways of being-becoming) enables the co-exploration and co-creation of complexity-informed theoretical and methodological contributions to organisational change agency and mainstream debates on OCD.

The study explored whether OCD practitioners could reflect on their current spiritual identity praxis and what the implications were of re-thinking their current roles as change agents when employing critical complexity as a lens. Co-operative Inquiry (CI) was used, which is ideally suited to explore a participatory worldview for co-creating propositional, experiential, practical and presentational knowledge. With the aid of multiple qualitative methods, CI enabled the co-creation of a re-imagined spiritual identity praxis heuristics framework.  Collaborating with six OCD practitioners, a co-created community of practice was established which reflected over a period of eighteen months, on processes of: (i) engagement with ideas of complexity thinking and its influence on change agents; (ii) spiritual identity and the co-operative inquiry process in contributing to a deeper reflection on their perspectives as change agents; (iii) spiritual identity praxis in framing the roles of change agents in change interventions; and (iv) authentic co-operation and collaboration during the co-operative inquiry process.

The research findings confirm the importance of: (i) embracing complexity thinking as change agents; (ii) navigating ambiguity and incongruence of spiritual identity; (iii) becoming aware of the relational constitutedness of spiritual identity praxis; and (iv) the utility of critical complexity integrated with CI in co-creating resilient heuristics through authentic collaboration and co-operation, which fosters complexity-informed spiritual identity praxis heuristics. The study contributes to an extended understanding of change agency praxis, provides a framework for re-imagined complexity-informed being-becoming praxis in change agency, and offers non-linear pathways to distil iterative principles and reflective signposts for complexity-informed OCD praxis.

In combining anarchist theory with mathematics, this thesis wishes to better understand what power and hierarchy are in order to explore how we can live without coercion. My motivation to study these concepts stems from observing a lack of freedom in contemporary society despite a lack of obvious coercion or clear hierarchical structure.
I divide this issue into three main research questions. What are, on the one hand, authority and hierarchy, and, on the other hand, what are freedom and autonomy? How does hierarchy evolve in social systems?
And how can we shift from hierarchical control to a more free social
organization? To answer these questions, I make use of social theory, anarchist theory, complex systems theory, mathematics and computer simulations.

I distinguish several aspects of power: control, coercion, constraint, determination and hierarchy. Defining these aspects leads to different understandings of freedom. Internal control refers to control over your own situation, while external control is directed towards the (whole) environment. Coercion forces a person to do something he does not want to do, while constraint limits a person’s possibilities. External determination, wherein one is completely influenced by an external force, makes one vulnerable to coercion. Determination and coercion are associated with a hierarchical structure. In a hierarchy, each element has no more than one influence and this influence works in only one direction. These concepts are described using mathematical tools such as graphs and entropy in cybernetic models.

Self-organization can lead to the development of a controller. Working
together to reach your goals can lead to a higher-level system. This system can acquire goals of its own, which can become disconnected from the goals of the entities that created the system. The rise of such a controller can be avoided by constantly opposing any seed of hierarchy or coercion. In this manner, no power can grow too big. This mechanism of constant opposition is illustrated in a simulation.

Overall, this thesis illustrates how to think in a less hierarchical way by
focusing on local coherence. In this way, there can be jointly related ideas rather than a single, primary concept with several sub-concepts. The tension between hierarchy and local coherence recurs throughout the thesis—in the difference between Marxism and anarchism, in internal versus external control, in the structural component of hierarchy, in hierarchical models versus their non-hierarchical variants, and in human agency versus determination.

«Il miglior testo scritto sul mio, chiamiamolo così, pensiero» (dalla Prefazione di Edgar Morin)

Possiamo vivere da soggetti, e non solo da inseguitori affannati, questo nostro tempo di vertiginose incertezze? Questa nostra sfidante quotidianità, trascinata per la prima volta dall’origine della specie nell’avventura di una società-mondo? Avventura sconosciuta, che porta con sé allo stesso tempo nuove speranze di civiltà delle relazioni e nuove inaudite barbarie?
Pochi studiosi come Edgar Morin hanno osato affrontare queste domande a tutto campo, interrogandosi sul ripensamento radicale della condizione umana che il nostro tempo invoca con drammatica urgenza. In quarant’anni di studi appassionati, Morin ha messo in dialogo la galassia parcellizzata dei saperi naturalistici e di quelli socio-antropologici, alla ricerca di un modo unitario di raccontare la nostra storia di specie, le nostre vicende sociali, e insieme la nostra esistenza quotidiana, nel vivo contesto dell’attuale ecologia planetaria.
Al cuore della straordinaria impresa moriniana c’è l’idea, spiazzante, che la qualità di soggetto non sia esclusivamente umana, ma caratterizzi ogni creatura vivente. Accogliendo la sfida di questo spiazzante decentramento, diventa possibile la 'reimmaginazione ecologica' della condizione umana, nella sua straordinaria unicità, senza separarla dal grembo della storia naturale. E diventa possibile scommettere sulla possibilità di vivere 'da soggetti' la nuova avventura della società planetaria che va trasformando giorno dopo giorno il nostro orizzonte di senso.

Beginning in the 3rd millennium BC, complex societies and states arose in the northern Horn of Africa. This process culminated with the development of the Kingdom of Aksum in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea in the 1st millennium AD. The development of these polities can be outlined in principle on the basis of the archaeological evidence. The process consisted of at least two distinct trajectories to social complexity, indirectly related to each other in the Eritrean-Sudanese lowlands and the Eritrean-Ethiopian highlands, respectively, with a shift in the location of complex societies from the lowlands to the highlands in the early 1st millennium BC. This shift was due to changes in the general pattern of interregional contacts between the regions facing the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean along the Nile Valley, Red Sea and western Arabia from the 4th millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD.