Ray Ison is Professor of Systems at the UK Open University (OU). As part of ASTiP (Applied Systems Thinking in Practice Group) he is responsible with colleagues for managing a post-graduate program in Systems Thinking in Practice. He has held a number of leadership posts within the international Systems and Cybernetics community including Presidencies of the IFSR (International Federation for Systems Research) and ISSS (International Society for the Systems Sciences). His research field is systems praxeology, institutional innovation and systemic governance.

Ed Straw is a visiting fellow at the OU's ASTiP group. He has seen government from every angle: as a citizen and consumer, adviser to several government ministers, Chair of Demos and Relate and as a specialist on government task forces. He was a consultant on both the Conservative and Labour government's public sector reforms, and a 'moderniser' for the UK Labour party. As a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC) and Coopers & Lybrand, he was a global and UK board director.

Acknowledgements, List of Figures, Tables and Boxes, List of Abbreviations, Preface, 1 Introduction: Crafting a Viable Future, Part 1 The Failure of Governance and Governments, 2 Why Governance Systems Are Failing, 3 Preferential Lobbying and Emergent Failure, 4 What is Missing from Current Governance Models, Part 2 What is Systems Thinking in Practice? 5 Examples: Health Services, Flood Defence, Meetings, 6 Investing in Systems Thinking in Practice Capability, Part 3 Using Systems Thinking in Practice for Governing, 7 Reinventing Governance Systems, 8 New Practices and Institutions for Systemic Governing, 9 Why and How Constitutions Matter, 10 Making Beneficial Change, 11 Principles for Systemic Governing, 12 What Next? Appendices, 1 Two Lives Invested in Systemic Sensibility, 2 Glossary, Index