he science of complexity has its roots in physics and mathematics. Today it has developed into a discipline that contributes to all areas of science and, more recently, also to humanities. Karoline Wiesner will discuss the fundamental concepts of complexity and explain how they translate from natural to social systems. She will then explore the possibility of doing quantitative political science inspired by physics. Karoline will present recent results obtained on transitions between political regime types. In addition, she will discuss preliminary results on the correlation between a country’s democratic and economic performance.

About the speaker:
Karoline Wiesner received her PhD in physics from Uppsala University. She spent her postdoctoral years at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico and at the University of California at Davis. In 2007, she became an Assistant and later Associate Professor at the University of Bristol, UK. Karoline is an External Professor at the Vienna Complexity Hub and has been a Visiting Professor at Lund University, the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Karoline has published a general introduction to the field of complexity science – ‘What is a complex system?’ – with Yale University Press.