Concepts & Theory
Concepts & Theory
RWS Core Concepts · Theoretical Building Blocks · Theoretical Dialogues
This section brings together the conceptual and theoretical foundations of my current research.
It includes concepts developed within Regional Development in World Society (RWS), theoretical building blocks drawn primarily from social systems theory and related approaches, and broader theoretical dialogues that contribute to, challenge or extend the development of the programme.
The material presented here has different theoretical status. Some concepts form part of the current RWS architecture, others provide theoretical foundations, broader theoretical traditions are examined through structured dialogues, and some questions remain explicitly exploratory and non-canonical.
RWS Core Concepts
These concepts form part of the current theoretical architecture of Regional Development in World Society.
They specify how world-societal processes acquire territorial relevance, become related to historically accumulated regional structures, and contribute to differentiated regional development.
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Current core concepts include:
- Selective Territorialization
- Regionalization
- Organizations & Regional Structures
- Knowledge, Measurement & Decision Relevance
- Materiality
- Regional Capacities & Asymmetries
Theoretical Building Blocks
These notes reconstruct theoretical concepts that provide important foundations for RWS but are not specific inventions of the programme.
They draw primarily on social systems theory and on related approaches to organization, temporality, institutions, infrastructure and materiality.
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Current building blocks include:
- World Society
- Functional Differentiation
- Organizations
- Observation & Communication
- Decision-Making
- Expectations
- Time & Future Expectations
- Institutionalization
- Infrastructure
- Materiality & Atmosphere
Theoretical Dialogues
RWS develops from social systems theory and world-society theory while remaining in dialogue with other theoretical traditions concerned with regional development, societal transformation, political economy and society–nature relations.
These dialogues are not treated as secondary literature reviews. They are used to identify convergences, tensions and conceptual resources that may contribute to the further development of RWS.
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Current areas of dialogue include:
- Social Systems Theory & World Society
- Critical Political Economy
- Regional Development Theory
- Development Theory
- Society–Nature & Material Approaches
Open Theory Agenda
Some theoretical questions remain deliberately open and are not part of the canonical RWS architecture.
The Open Theory Agenda brings together exploratory questions that require further theoretical reconstruction, literature work or empirical testing before they can be incorporated into the programme.
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Current areas of inquiry include:
- organizations as possible interfaces between heterogeneous societal processes
- the possible metaphor of organizations as “synapses”
- asymmetric regionalization
- atmosphere as a possible extension of materiality
- the construction of decision relevance
- temporal relations between historical structures and future expectations
- attribution, regional self-description and external observation
These questions are explicitly exploratory and non-canonical.
Theoretical Status
The section distinguishes between four levels:
RWS Core Concepts
Concepts that form part of the current RWS theoretical architecture.
Theoretical Building Blocks
Concepts derived from broader theoretical traditions and used as foundations for RWS.
Theoretical Dialogues
Engagements with other theoretical approaches that may contribute to, challenge or extend the programme.
Open Theory Agenda
Exploratory and non-canonical questions that remain under theoretical development.
This distinction makes explicit which concepts are canonical within RWS and which are foundational, comparative or exploratory.
Related Research
Regional Development in World Society →
Amazonia as a Comparative Observation Field →
Mining & Extractive Transformations →
Extractive Communities & Territorial Relations →
Policy, Evaluation & Applied Research →