ABSTRACT

How can societies change in the face of a widely felt perception of the need to change, but also under the irreducible uncertainty about what and how to change? This chapter explores how evolutionary theory might help identify answers to this question. It summarizes contemporary views of the dynamics of biological evolution, adapts these views to the specificities of the social domain, and explores their implications on policymaking. On a more abstract level, this chapter explores how this conceptualization might help connect institutionalist and pragmatist views of planning.