ERC Starting Grant · 2025
Walls and Wicked Problems: The Role of Complexity in Politics
Politics is about solving our world's most complex problems. Solving “wicked problems” like climate change or migration involves myriad actors, contested priorities, uncertain outcomes, and interdependent processes. In the face of such complexity, policymakers sometimes propose simple solutions. US President Donald Trump proposed building a wall to “solve” immigration. British Conservatives proposed cutting all ties with the EU in a “hard Brexit”. Both won elections on these simple narratives. Conversely, the lack of a similarly simple idea to address climate change seems to hinder global progress. Each of these events is a story of a contest between complex and simple ideas. Yet political…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.