Mapping Coevolution
Term
Mapping Coevolution
Idea level
Method
Definition
Mapping Coevolution is a qualitative method developed and applied by Yuen Yuen Ang in 2016 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 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, 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
“Coevolutionary narratives with teeth strive to reveal mutual causal influences between two (or more) domains of interest: for example, how a particular bureaucratic adaptation affects the economy, how subsequent economic changes feedback to the bureaucracy, so on and on, in a zigzag causal chain.”
— Ang, How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (2016), Mapping Coevolution (p. 24-25)
“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)
Concept Constellation
Across Ang’s work, Mapping Coevolution consistently co-appears with the following concepts and analytic themes:
Adaptive Political Economy (paradigm)
Chicken-and-Egg Fallacy of Development (endogeneity problem)
Coevolutionary Development (non-linear theory)
Coevolutionary Development: demonstrated in China, Nigeria, United States
Zig-zag causal chains