—Latest blog entries include
**“Not ‘What are the risks to be managed with respect to this disaster scenario,’ but rather: ‘What improves inter-infrastructural restoration resilience here and now?'”
**“Not the usual policy relevance of contemporary poetry”
**“If not corpse-pastoralism, then what are we seeing? Four other suggestions and key upshot for re-seeing what we thought we knew.”
**“The marginalized should have more voice in politics! But what do subaltern scholars have to say about that?”
—When Complex is as Simple as it Gets: Guide for recasting policy and management in the Anthropocene, along with schematic, can be found at
This working paper updates many blog entries prior to its June 2023 publication. Those interested in newly updated extensions of the Guide, please see:
**”Sourcing new ideas from the humanities, fine arts, and other media for complex policy analysis and management (newly added)” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2025/07/03/major-read-sourcing-new-ideas-from-the-humanities-fine-arts-and-other-media-for-complex-policy-analysis-and-management/
**”17 examples on how genre differences affect the structure and substance of policy and management [newly added]: https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2026/02/27/seventeen-short-examples-on-how-differences-in-genre-affect-the-structure-and-substance-of-policy-and-management-last-newly-added/
**”Instead of “differentiated by gender, race and class,” why not “differentiated by heterogeneity and complexity”? Ten examples of racism, class, capitalism, inequalities, border controls, authoritarianism, COVID and more” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2025/08/31/major-read-instead-of-differentiated-by-gender-race-and-class-why-not-differentiated-by-heterogeneity-and-complexity-t/
**”New method matters in reframing policy and management (recently added)” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2026/07/15/major-read-new-method-matters-in-reframing-policy-and-management-recently-added/
**”Emerging counternarratives on: migrants, border controls, digital networks, remittances, child labor, COVID’s impact (Africa and Europe), and global neoliberalism” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2026/02/23/emerging-counternarratives-on-migrants-border-controls-digital-networks-remittances-child-labor-covids-impact-africa-and-europe-and-global-neoliberalism-newly-added/
—Other major new reads:
**”The ‘future’ in HRO Studies: the example of networked reliability” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2024/10/17/the-future-in-hro-studies-the-example-of-networked-reliability-as-a-form-of-reliability-seeking/
**”The siloing of approaches to discourse and narrative analyses in public policy” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2024/07/25/major-read-the-siloing-of-approaches-to-discourse-and-narrative-analyses-in-public-policy/
**”A National Academy of Reliable Infrastructure Management” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2024/08/21/a-national-academy-of-reliable-infrastructure-management-resent/
**””Learning discrepantly” for policy & management (updated and expanded)” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2026/07/08/major-read-learning-discrepantly/
**”I understand why others feel compelled to defend the humanities and arts. But their direct relevance for public policy and management has always been obvious.” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2025/01/21/i-understand-why-others-feel-compelled-to-defend-the-humanities-and-arts-but-their-direct-relevance-for-public-policy-and-management-has-always-been-obvious/
**”The Centrality of Restoration Resilience Across Interconnected Critical Infrastructures for Emergency Management: A Framework and Key Implications” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2025/08/09/the-centrality-of-restoration-resilience-across-interconnected-critical-infrastructures-for-emergency-management-a-framework-and-key-implications-research-report-f/
—Key blog entries on livestock herders, pastoralists and pastoralisms are:
**”If not corpse-pastoralism, then what are we seeing? Four other suggestions and key upshot for re-seeing what we thought we knew.” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2026/07/17/if-not-corpse-pastoralism-then-what-four-other-suggestions-and-key-upshot-for-re-seeing-what-we-thought-we-knew/
**”Time to think more radically: three new policy narratives extremely different from current positions in pastoralist development” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2026/05/01/time-to-think-more-radically-three-policy-narratives-for-pastoralist-development-that-are-extremely-different-from-current-positions/
**”Other fresh perspectives on pastoralists and pastoralism: 17 brief cases (last newly added)” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2025/05/11/other-fresh-perspectives-on-pastoralists-and-pastoralism-17-brief-cases-last-newly-added/
**”A ‘reliability-seeking economics in pastoralist development” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2026/01/16/a-reliability-seeking-economics-in-pastoralist-development/
**”Twelve new extensions of “pastoralists as reliability professionals” and “pastoralism as a critical infrastructure” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2024/12/20/new-extensions-of-the-framework-for-pastoralists-as-reliability-professionals-and-pastoralism-as-a-critical-infrastructure/
**”First complicate those for-or-against-pastoralism arguments and then see the policy relevance: four brief examples” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2025/08/12/four-briefer-points-of-policy-relevance-for-pastoralists-and-herders/
—Key blog entries on updating Narrative Policy Analysis are:
**”Updating NARRATIVE POLICY ANALYSIS (1994)” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2025/10/14/updating-narrative-policy-analysis-1994/
**”Narrative policy analysis: then, now and ahead” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2024/06/04/narrative-policy-analysis-then-now-and-ahead/
**”The policy relevance of Michel Riffaterre and Algirdas Greimas: the example of global climate change (GCC)” https://mess-and-reliability.blog/2026/07/16/the-policy-relevance-of-michel-riffaterre-and-algirdas-j-greimas-the-example-of-global-climate-change/
WHEN COMPLEX IS AS SIMPLE AS IT GETS 