A call for a post-reductionist polity

July 30, 2026

Stewart calls for an ‘ecological economic strategy’ and in his ‘Australia needs a capability state’ article lays out a capability-based structure for an evolved polity. These reflect a holistic systems-based view of how the world at all scales actually works. This is very different from the conventional Western reductionist approach that teases complex systems apart and places the bits in separate silos.

The six ‘capabilities’ that Stewart identifies I see in terms of Koestler’s holarchical pattern of organisation with each capability a ‘holon’, a complex system that in many ways is an autonomous whole but also part of a larger whole. The holon is a useful device for focusing at an appropriate scale of complexity.

This would be a truly revolutionary reorganisation of the nation’s polity. It elevates technocracy and substantially replaces ideological politics with community engagement and demands serious strategic planning at a substantial time scale.

It is relevant to note that in some ways this is similar to how China functions, and that they came from nowhere to undisputed world leader in vehicle production for less than the cost of AUKUS.