Mapping Coevolution

Term

Mapping Coevolution

Idea level

Method

Definition

Mapping Coevolution is a qualitative method developed and applied by Yuen Yuen Ang for tracing and modeling endogenous (bicausal) processes of mutual change between two or more domains—such as markets and institutions—over time. Adapted from Johann Peter Murmann’s work on coevolution in the business sector, Ang’s method specifies the steps for collecting qualitative and historical data, identifying reciprocal feedbacks, and sequencing them to systematically trace the causal logic of Coevolutionary Development.

Sources

Primary methodological articulation:

• Ang, Yuen Yuen. How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (2016), Appendix A: Steps for Mapping Coevolution; Chapter 1: Mapping Coevolution

Earlier inspiration (method adapted from):

• Murmann, Johann Peter. “The Coevolution of Industries and Important Features of Their Environments.” Organization Science 24, no. 1 (2013): 58–78.

Theoretical synthesis:

• Ang, Yuen Yuen. “Adaptive Political Economy: Toward a New Paradigm.” World Politics (2024).

Genealogy

[Paradigm] AIM (Adaptive, Inclusive, Moral Political Economy)

→ [Pillar] Adaptive Political Economy (APE)

→ [Theory] Coevolutionary Development

→ [Method] Mapping Coevolution

→ [Application: Development] Tracing endogenous state–market feedback over time across China, Europe, the United States, and Nigeria

Quotes

“In How China Escaped the Poverty Trap, I take endogeneity (or mutual change) as my starting point, as a natural process to be understood rather than purged from analysis. To this end, I developed a qualitative method for tracing and modeling its patterns. First, I introduced a template for mapping coevolution in any two given domains, adapted from earlier work by Johann Murmann on coevolutionary processes in the business sector.”

— Ang, Adaptive Political Economy (2024)

“Coevolutionary narratives with teeth strive to reveal mutual causal influences between two (or more) domains of interest… in a zigzag causal chain.”

— Ang, How China Escaped the Poverty Trap, pp. 24–25