The Hidden Power of Systems Thinking: Governance in a Climate Emergency

The Hidden Power of Systems Thinking is a persuasive, lively book that shows how systems thinking can be harnessed to effect profound, complex change.

In the age of the Anthropocene the need for new ways of thinking and acting have become urgent. But patterns of obstacles are apparent in any action, be they corporate interests, lobbyists, or outdated political and government systems. Ison and Straw show how and why failure in governance is at the heart of the collective incapacity to tackle the climate and biodiversity emergencies. They go beyond analysis of the problem and demonstrate how incorporating systems thinking into governance at every level would enable us to break free of historical shackles. They propose 21 principles for systemic governance.

This book will be inspiring reading for students of systems thinking that want to understand the application of their methods, specialists in change management or public administration, activists for 'whole system change' as well as decision makers wanting to effect challenging transformations. It is for anyone with the ambition to create a sustainable and fair world.

Ray Ison is Professor of Systems at the UK Open University (OU). As part of ASTiP (Applied Systems Thinking in Practice Group) he is responsible with colleagues for managing a post-graduate program in Systems Thinking in Practice. He has held a number of leadership posts within the international Systems and Cybernetics community including Presidencies of the IFSR (International Federation for Systems Research) and ISSS (International Society for the Systems Sciences). His research field is systems praxeology, institutional innovation and systemic governance.

Ed Straw is a visiting fellow at the OU’s ASTiP group. He has seen government from every angle: as a citizen and consumer, adviser to several government ministers, Chair of Demos and Relate, and as a specialist on government task forces. He was a consultant on both the Conservative and Labour government’s public sector reforms, and a ’moderniser’ for the UK Labour party. As a partner at PwC and Coopers & Lybrand, he was a global and UK board director.