Lez Rayman-Bacchus

This research develops the Recursive Network Model (RNM), a socio-philosophical methodology for examining institutional purpose through recursive triadic dynamics in complex adaptive systems. Contemporary strategy emerges from recursive triadic tensions among bounded strategic agency, regulatory constraints, and institutional expectations. This paper introduces the Recursive Network Model (RNM), a scalable triadic methodology for anticipatory research in complex adaptive systems. Grounded in Heideggerian ontology, RNM diagnoses Institutional Metabolism, the recursive drive toward Heidegger's Standing Reserve, reordering purposive commitments into resource efficiency. RNM operationalises a critical realist-pragmatist synthesis of becoming through a five-step protocol (corpus assembly; domain mapping; triadic struggle; attribute coding; leverage analysis), validated via Star-Hub Human-AI triangulation, using independent AI architectures (ChatGPT and Perplexity) as latent coders. Corporate purpose pilots (Unilever vs. Zurich Insurance) achieved Krippendorff's α_construct = 0.94; α_intercoder = 0.87, confirming construct clarity across regulatory contexts. Unlike episodic foresight, RNM retroduces path-dependent mechanisms. Unilever's Instrumental Surrender (purpose subjugated by the Enframing logic of shareholder primacy), contrasts Zurich's Homeostatic Stability via Solvency II, revealing regulatory topology as generative mechanism. RNM maps leverage points, such as CEO narrative reframing and routine formalisation. The model bridges the purpose-process-performance gap by making recursive metabolism visible, positioning RNM as a diagnostic platform for anticipatory research across organisational and policy scales.

Consensus about the universality of the power law feature in complex networks is experiencing widespread challenges. In this paper, we propose a generic theoretical framework in order to examine the power law property. First, we study a class of birth-and-death networks that are more common than BA networks in the real world, and then we calculate their degree distributions; the results show that the tails of their degree distributions exhibit a distinct power law feature. Second, we suggest that in the real world two important factors—network size and node disappearance probability—will affect the analysis of power law characteristics in observation networks. Finally, we suggest that an effective way of detecting the power law property is to observe the asymptotic (limiting) behavior of the degree distribution within its effective intervals.

COVID-19, as a pandemic, is impacting institutions around the world. Its scope and economic dimensions also mean that it poses a major threat towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article discusses how the coronavirus pandemic may influence the SDGs and could affect their implementation. The methods used entail an analysis of the literature, observations and an assessment of current world trends. The results obtained point out that, while COVID-19 has become a priority to many health systems in developing nations, they still need to attend to many other existing diseases such as malaria, yellow fever and others. Further, the study shows that strong concerns in dealing with COVID-19 are disrupting other disease prevention programs. As a result, problems such as mental health are also likely to be overlooked, since the isolation of social distancing may mask or lead to an increase in the percentage of suffers. The paper suggests that, due to its wide scope and areas of influence, COVID-19 may also jeopardize the process of the implementation of the SDGs. It sends a cautious warning about the need to continue to put an emphasis on the implementation of the SDGs, so that the progress achieved to date is not endangered.

This paper examines the potential for cultural policy to shape sustainable development in the context of expectations arising from research and policy work on development. We use, as the basis of a critique, the categorisation of the relationship between culture and sustainable development proposed by a major study funded by the European Union, being emblematical of how researchers and policymakers understand this relationship. The critique highlights a need for multiscalar social change, towards revaluing relations with the natural world, and reforming social relations between producers and consumers. This paper locates cultural policy as an arm of governance, with the capacity to lead social change across several interdependent pathways (revaluing technological change; fostering an aesthetic appreciation and environmental ethical consciousness; and pro-social behaviour) alongside the development of more sophisticated governance frameworks. The paper further proposes that through (re)education, cultural policy can and should play a more active role in shaping social change.