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The tyranny of small steps- An archetypical
behaviour in resource management
Hordur V. Haraldsson**, Harald U. Sverdrup", Salim Belyazid*,
Kenneth M. Persson”, Johan Holmgvist?
“Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund Institute of Technology, Box 124 Lund, Sweden
"SWECO VIAK, Gejersgatan 8, 21618 Malmé, Sweden
Abstract
A new archetypical behaviour has been observed. The archetypical behaviour, whereby an
overarching decision is undermined by small step changes on a finer resolution level is
discovered to be very frequent. The small steps must be smaller than the observation
resolution of the overarching system in order to be in-stoppable. The archetypical behaviour is
active in many long term political conflicts where a situation appears to be slowly
deteriorating over long time, apparently with no means to stop it. It is also present in
situations where several administrative levels are acting on the same object, such as resource
planning and permissions by local and super-regional authorities. Examples are urban
encroachment on surrounding land or the slow diffusion by one population into a territory of
another.
Background
There is a tendency for project development to be influenced by series of small decisions.
Kahn (1966) discusses how consumers through their decisions can possess much power on the
market development through a concept called “the tyranny of small decisions”. Resources in
the market economy are highly dependent on the cumulative market transactions of the
individual consumers. Although not intentionally made, each market transaction by the
consumer is a “vote” for a certain product of service to exist. Odum (1982) has suggests that
the “tyranny of small decisions” can be related to environmental degradation as well, were
“small” independent decision insignificant to the individuals has resulted in loss of natural
resources. Burnell (2002) uses tyranny of small decisions to explains how elections can be
affected through small steps.
Tyranny of small steps seen through system dynamics
Here the concept from Kahn is further developed into Tyranny of Small Steps (TOST).
Explained through system dynamics perspective, it is an unwanted change to a system
through a series of small activities that are independent from one another. These activities are
small enough to fall within a “tolerance” zone of the system and thus not noticed by
surveillance within the system. The tolerance zone is a certain proportion of the system that is
“grey” area where activities are tolerated. Activities are permitted one by one and once the
whole tolerance zone has been consumed, the surveillance in the system closes down all
further development. A revision is made and a new tolerance zone is created.
* Contact author: hordur.haraldsson @chemeng.|th.se
Discussions
TOST is a phenomenon that arises when communication between two independent planning
authorities is lacking or not sufficient to block development. The archetypical behaviour of
the TOST appears to be important in administrative and political systems as well. It is quite
frequent and seems to be able to operate whenever something is regulated by more than one
resolution level and tolerance limit. Basically, this is an issue that arises by the use of
differences in small scale and large scale norms. An article by the authors is currently in
review that explains through different cases studies in details the properties of the TOST and
how it operates across levels and scales.
References
Burnell P. 2002. Zambia’s 2001 elections: the tyranny of small decisions, 'non-decisions' and
‘not decisions’. Third World Quarterly 23(6): 1103-1120.
Kahn AE. 1966. The tyranny of small decisions: Market failures, imperfections, and the limits
of economics. Kyklos 19(1): 23-47.
Odum WE. 1982. Environmental Degradation and the Tyranny of Small Decisions.
BioScience 32(9): 728-729.
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