On the Edge of Chaos: From Resilient System to Catastrophic Break Point
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36253/rifp-3951Keywords:
chaos theory, complex systems, resilience, unpredictabilityAbstract
Chaos’s widespread diagnosis of global instability calls into question the systemic approach (indeterminism and complexity) that was the cornerstone not only of analysis but also of technocratic management, during the golden years of neoliberalism, above all through the metaphor of resilience. Today, an absolutized version of chaos prevails, enabling a centralized and un-mediated political/economic command, supported by the evidence-based algorithmic decision-making. Yet, from an epistemic (and social) point of view, chaos also opens bifurcations at the point of catastrophe.
Downloads
References
Airoldi, Massimo. “Teorie e dimensioni del potere algoritmico tra agency e dominio.” Scienza&Politica 36, no. 70 (2024): 49-63. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1825-9618/19863
Aresu, Alessandro. Geopolitica dell’intelligenza artificiale. Milano: Feltrinelli, 2024.
Arrighi, Giovanni and Beverly J. Silver. Chaos and governance in the modern world system. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 1999.
Azzariti, Ferdinando, a cura di. Il Caos: nuova regola del mercato. Principi e metodi di sopravvivenza per imprenditori e manager. Milano: Franco Angeli, 2016.
Bazzicalupo, Laura. “Coesistenza.” Filosofia politica 31, no. 1 (2017): 47-58.
Bazzicalupo, Laura. “Natura e politica: il potere dei saperi: dal certo all’indeterminato.” Filosofia politica 37, no. 3 (2023): 465-482.
Boccia Artieri, Giovanni. “Fare sociologia attraverso l’algoritmo: potere cultura e agency.” AIS Journal of Sociology 15, 2020: 137-148. https://dx.doi.org/10.1485/2281-2652-202015-7
Bull, Hedley. The anarchical society. London: MacMillan, 1977.
Casati, Giulio, ed. Il caos. Le leggi del disordine. Firenze: Le Monnier, 1991.
Chafkin, Max. The Contrarian: P. Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power. London: Penguin Books, 2021.
Ciappei, Cristiano. Il realismo strategico nel governo dell’impresa. Firenze: Firenze University Press, 2006.
Cohen, Bernice. The Edge of Chaos. Financial Booms, Bubbles, Crashes and Chaos. Hoboken: Wiley, 1997.
De Finetti, Bruno. La logica dell’incerto. Milano: Il Saggiatore, 1989.
Erçetin, Sefika Sule and Suay Nilhan Açikalin, eds. Chaos, Complexity and Leadership 2023. London: Springer Nature, 2024.
Foucault, Michel. “Nietzsche, la généalogie, l’histoire.” In Hommage à Jean Hyppolite. Sous la dir. de Suzanne Bachelard. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1971.
Gagliasso, Elena. “Lontani dal determinismo: reti di relazioni vincolate.” Etica & Politica 18, no. 3 (2016): 75-90.
Goodwin, Richard. Chaotic Economic Dynamics. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990.
Griffin, Douglas and Ralph Stacey. Complexity and the experience of leading organizations. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2008.
Joseph, Jonathan. “Governing through failure and denial: the new resilience agenda.” Millennium 44, no. 3 (2016): 370-390. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305829816638166
Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking fast and slow. London: Penguin Books, 2012.
Kahneman, Daniel and Amos Tversky. Choices, Values and Frames. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Kavalski, Emilian, ed. World Politics at the Edge of Chaos. New York: Albany University Press, 2005.
Keene, Angelique. “Complexity theory: the changing role of leadership.” Industrial and Commercial Training 32, 2000: 15-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/00197850010311121
Kotler, Philip and John Caslione. Chaotics: the business of managing and marketing in the age of turbulence. New York: Amacom, 2009.
Lorenz, Edward Norton. “Deterministic Nonperiodic Flow.” Journal of Atmospheric Sciences 20, no. 2 (1963): 130-141. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1963)020<0130:DNF>2.0.CO;2
Mezzadra, Sandro. “Introduzione alla nuova edizione.” In Giovanni Arrighi e Beverly J. Silver, Caos e governo del mondo. Come cambiano le egemonie e gli equilibri planetari. Milano-Udine: Mimesis, 2024.
Miles, Jonathan. “The Billionaire King of Techtopia.” Details Magazine, September 2011. Available at https://web-wp.archive.org/web/20150910022753/http://www.details.com/culture-trends/critical-eye/201109/peter-thiel-billionaire-paypal-facebook-internet-success
Navarro, José and Carlos Arteta. “Chaos in human behaviour.” The Spanish Journal of Psychology 13, no. 1 (2010): 244-256. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1138741600003826
Peters, Tom. Thriving on chaos. Handbook for a Management Revolution. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
Prigogine, Ilya. Les Lois du Chaos. Paris: Flammarion, 1994.
Ruelle, David. “Small random perturbations of dynamical systems and the definition of attractors.” Communications in Mathematical Physics 82, no. 1 (1981): 137-151.
Ruelle, David. “What is a strange Attractor?” Notices of the AMS 53, no. 7 (2006): 764-765.
Saperstein, Alvin. “Chaos in models of arms races and the initiation of war: Crisis stability and instability in an international system.” Complexity 12, no. 3 (2007): 22-26.
Schmidt, Jessica. “Intuitively neoliberal? Towards a critical understanding of resilience governance.” European Journal of International Relations 21, no. 2 (2015): 402-426. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066114537533
Schuster, Heinz Georg and Just Wolfram. Deterministic Chaos. An Introduction. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH, 2005.
Simon, Herbert Alexander. Models of Bounded Rationality. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1982.
Sirkin Harold and James W. Hemerling. Globality: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything. Business Plus, 2008.
Soros, George. The Alchemy of Finance. Hoboken: Wiley & Sons, 2003.
Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. The Black Swan: The Impact of Highly Improbable. London: Penguin Books, 2008.
Thom, René. Paraboles et catastrophes. Paris: Flammarion, 1983.
Walker, Jeremy and Melinda Cooper. “Genealogies of resilience: from systems ecology to the political economy of crisis adaptation.” Security Dialogue 42, no. 2 (2011): 143-160. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010611399616
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Laura Bazzicalupo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
