Systems Thinking for Peacebuilding and Rule of Law : Supporting Complex Reforms in Conflict-Affected Environments

Many peacebuilding interventions seeking to support rule of law get stuck. The reason they get stuck may have little to do with the law and its technical dimensions and more with a tendency to treat certain rule of law systems as if they were orderly, regular, and predictable. In reality, peacebuilding practitioners work with complex systems, namely systems that are disorderly, irregular, and unpredictable. This report draws upon several years of experimentation and research in the field of systems thinking and complexity at USIP. It suggests that practitioners may be better at managing confusion and uncertainty by adopting more flexible approaches as they support change in conflict affected environments.