ABSTRACT
The internet and the globalisation of the economy mean everything is connected to everything else. That sometimes has unforeseen and dramatic consequences. Chaos theory uses a well-known metaphor to clarify these processes in an interconnected world: the ‘butterfly effect’. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the question of what this interconnected world means for change processes, for policy-making and for decision-making. The first important characteristic of an interconnected world is that it is inhabited by a large number of parties or actors: governments, companies, not-for-profit organisations, citizens. Interdependencies also offer an intervening actor opportunities. The first opportunity offered by interdependencies is that they force parties to behave moderately towards each other. A second opportunity is that complex interdependencies offer more chances for exchanges. A third chance is that interdependencies could lead to the content of the decision-making being enriched.
