Complex
Term
Complex
Idea level
☐ Concept
Definition
Complex describes systems made up of many interconnected parts that interact with and adapt to one another and to their environment—such as trees. Yuen Yuen Ang defines societies (including social processes and problems) as complex rather than complicated, meaning their dynamics are characterized by interdependence, adaptation, and uncertainty, and therefore cannot be understood through models and tools designed for complicated, machine-like objects.
Sources
First formal articulation (conceptual formalization):
Ang, Yuen Yuen. “Adaptive Political Economy: Toward a New Paradigm.” World Politics (2024).
Earlier articulation:
Ang, Yuen Yuen. How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (2016), Introduction (pp. 9–11) and Chapter 2 (pp. 48–52).
Applied clarification and correction of misuse:
Ang, Yuen Yuen. “Three Fallacies of Embracing Complexity.” UNDP Development Futures Series (2018).
Genealogy
[Paradigm] AIM (Adaptive, Inclusive, Moral Political Economy)
→ [Pillar] Adaptive Political Economy (APE)
→ [Concept] Complex
→ [Application: Development] Development as co-evolutionary process, starting with repurposing what you have
→ [Application] Directed improvisation
Contrast with
[Paradigm] Industrial–Colonial Paradigm
→ [Pillar] Mechanical thinking (treating societies as machines)
→ [Concept] Complicated
→ [Application: Development] Development as linear process: “growth first” or “good governance first”
→ [Application] Control-oriented policy design (or its false opposite: giving up control)
Quotes
Social worlds are not complicated—they are almost always complex. Complex systems comprise many moving parts that interact with one another and change together, triggering outcomes that cannot be precisely controlled or predicted in advance. Human bodies are an example of complex systems. Political economies, comprising many players, many institutions, and many interactions, are complex.
— Ang, How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (2016), p. 10
Complex does not mean complicated, just as trees are not toasters. Whereas machines are complicated, systems are complex.
Complexity is not a nuisance. Despite appearing messy, complex systems often display intelligent patterns, as fractal geometry demonstrates.
— Ang, Adaptive Political Economy (2024)
Concept Constellation
Across Ang’s work, Complex consistently co-appears with the following concepts and analytic themes:
Complex ≠ complicated (trees vs. toasters)
Uncertainty ≠ risk
Interdependence / endogeneity (mutual causation rather than one-way effects)
Adaptation (agents and institutions adjusting to one another and their environment)
Coevolutionary development (markets and institutions evolving together over time)
Influence rather than control (steering adaptive processes instead of engineering outcomes)
Directed improvisation (direction from the top combined with local experimentation)