The Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD) is pleased to join the Complexity and International Relations Study Group, a multidisciplinary effort that brings together eminent scholars and practitioners to explore how insights from the science of complexity can revitalize international institutions and global governance. This initiative is part of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Future of Institutions project and is co-sponsored by New America, the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, the Princeton BioComplexity Lab and Arizona State University. The Study Group aims to derive principles for the design and management of international institutions better able to address global problems, deliver public goods, and adapt to a rapidly changing world. LISD Director Andrew Moravcsik – Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University and LISD Executive Director Nadia Crisan are members of the Study Group, which convenes for the first time on May 18-19, 2023 in Princeton.

Many of our institutions operate as if the world were a closed, linear system. Bureaucracies especially rely on fixed inputs and outputs. Complex adaptive systems involve independent agents constantly adapting to environmental feedback, rendering outcomes that are inherently unpredictable. The science of complexity helps us better understand human systems, as well, from financial markets to political polarization to global cooperation and conflict.

Study Group Members

Delia Baldassarri – Professor in the Department of Sociology at NYU.

Jenna Bednar – Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Michigan and a member of the external faculty at the Santa Fe Institute.

Craig Calhoun – Professor of Social Sciences at ASU.

Peter Coleman – Professor of Psychology and Education at Columbia University Teachers College and The Earth Institute.

Nadia Crisan – Executive Director of LISD at Princeton University.

Robert O. Keohane – Professor Emeritus of International Affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.

Ann Florini – Fellow in the Political Reform Program at New America.

Ann Kinzig – Professor, School of Life Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, ASU.

Gordon LaForge – Senior Policy Analyst in the Planetary Politics Initiative at New America.

Steve Lansing – External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute and Vienna Complexity Hub and emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona.

Simon Levin – Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Director of the Center for BioComplexity at Princeton University.

Tova Donovan Levin – Research and teaching assistant with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and an intelligence officer in the Marine Corps.

Helen Milner – Professor of Politics and International Affairs and Director of the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs.

Andrew Moravcsik – Professor of Politics and International Affairs and Director of LISD and the European Union Program at Princeton University.

Scott E. Page – Professor of Complexity, Social Science, and Management at the University of Michigan and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute.

Anne-Marie Slaughter – CEO of New America, member of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Advisory Board for Effective Multilateralism, and Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton.

Allison Stanger – Professor of International Politics and Economics at Middlebury College and External Professor and Science Board member at the Santa Fe Institute.

Corina Tarnita – Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University.

Elke Weber – Professor in Energy and the Environment and Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs at Princeton University.