The Vulnerability-Redundancy Nexus through Connectivity. An Analytical Framework

The article proposes a new theoretical framework based on the conception of organized complexity and aims at linking fundamental dynamic properties of socioeconomic systems to their architecture of connectivity. It emphasizes the role of stable intermediate forms and near-decomposability as the key to understanding vulnerability and resilience. The proposed approach provides a theoretical foundation for the role of redundancy as a condition lowering specific vulnerabilities, thus contributing – under certain conditions - to enhancing a system’s resilience. The framework suggests that, while at intermediate levels of connectivity, increasing redundancy helps mitigate vulnerability, beyond a certain threshold, redundancy is usually associated with a return to rising vulnerability (vulnerability-redundancy paradox). The paper concludes by offering insights into policymakers to design interventions able to manage the trade-offs between vulnerability and efficiency