The Good, The Bad, and The Sometimes Ugly: Complexity as Both Threat and Opportunity in the Vital Systems Security Discourse

The notion and concept of complexity occupies a special and multifaceted place in the discussion about risks in international security. On the one hand, complexity is conceptualized as a key characteristic of new security challenges, and therefore viewed as a threat. On the other, scientific observations regarding the behavior of complex systems have become a powerful driver for conceptualizing new modes of security governance to tackle increasingly complex phenomena. This conceptual duality of ‘the complex’ – and the interrelationships between the two – is explored in this chapter via a salient sub-issue of the current security debate: vital systems security/critical infrastructure protection.

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