Yuen Yuen Ang’s study of China’s exceptional escape from its poverty trap in just 3-4 decades is significant and useful because it shatters conventional wisdom about how development happens. Complementing the notion of directed improvisation, she highlights a …
Learning from China’s Transformation, Part 6. Co-evolution – a ‘first principle’. Read More
**8 min read** This series of blog posts highlights lessons from one of the greatest transformative development success stories ever. It is also an extraordinary example of the deliberate application of complex adaptive systems concepts in political-economic or …
China’s Transformation, Part 5. Directed improvisation Read More
**10 min read** We need fresh narratives about how the world works, and why, and what to do to solve its complex problems. We need ‘Two-eyed Seeing’. We need Nuance. Pluralism. Diversity. Alternative frameworks, models, worldviews, perspectives. This …
China’s Transformation, Part 4. Dominant narratives, alternative perspectives Read More
**5 min read** Some years ago I was on an evaluation assignment in the Mekong region, dealing with labour issues. In an interview in a (Western) embassy the diplomat vehemently argued that the population should vote the government …
China’s Transformation, Part 3. Seeing through others’ eyes Read More
**10 min read** As evaluators we cannot afford to get caught up in narratives – usually devoid of nuance – that aim to create negative mental models of a certain society. This second and also the third post …
China’s Transformation, Part 2. Towards an ecological civilisation Read More
Evaluators have an imperative to learn from success. Today we are fortunate: Those of us working in development or evaluation can learn from one of the greatest transformational development success stories of all time. For the first time …
China’s transformation, Part 1. Why learn from China? Read More