How human systems hold together, and how they come apart
Peter Urs Aeberhard, THAC · framework in development
In short: Families, organisations, institutions and societies are relational systems. They survive, adapt and flourish when they fulfil a few basic functions, and they fulfil them only under certain conditions. Where these conditions erode, mistrust, fragmentation and violence emerge. The RSF makes this visible, so that leaders and practitioners can work on the conditions, not only on the symptoms.
Where it comes from
The RSF grew out of three decades of practice in humanitarian aid, peacebuilding, governance and security sector reform, in Somalia, East Africa, the Great Lakes, the Balkans and in Swiss foreign policy. It connects that practice with six bodies of research: evolution and cooperation; attachment and relational development; systems theory and complexity; social psychology; trauma and healing; and peace, governance and institutions.
The core idea
Human systems organise themselves around functions that secure survival, coherence and the capacity to adapt. Even destructive systems can fulfil these functions for a time; what matters is the quality of the relationships, regulation and development behind them.
The RSF distinguishes three levels:
| Level | Question | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| System functions | What must a system achieve? | regulation, coordination, connection, adaptation, repair |
| Enabling conditions | Under which conditions does it succeed? | predictability, reciprocity, recognition, social embeddedness |
| Emergent properties | What arises from it? | safety, trust, legitimacy, cooperation, or their opposites |
Five functions
| Function | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Regulation | safety, law, conflict management, calming in crises |
| Coordination | cooperation of states, regions, markets, organisations |
| Connection | belonging, identity, trust between groups and between state and citizens |
| Adaptation | adjusting to climate, technology, demography |
| Repair | healing after violence, making amends, reconciliation |
Four conditions
| Condition | Test question |
|---|---|
| Predictability | Do rules, rights and commitments hold across elections and crises? |
| Reciprocity | Do all sides share costs and benefits fairly and verifiably? |
| Recognition | Are the dignity, history and suffering of those involved acknowledged? |
| Social embeddedness | Is the measure anchored in communities, traditions and networks? |
Two spirals
The RSF uses two spirals as thinking aids, not as universal models:
- Development spiral: safety → recognition → trust → cooperation → learning and innovation → shared prosperity
- Erosion spiral: threat and insecurity → protective reactions → mistrust → control and power over → patronage and corruption → polarisation → loss of collective capability → institutional fragility → violence
Most societies move in both spirals at once. Leadership means recognising which one dominates, and where it can be turned.
Trauma as a system issue
In the RSF, trauma is not only an individual injury. It is an impairment of a system’s ability to maintain its basic functions. Mistrust, fragmentation and violence are its emergent consequences. Trauma is passed on through relationship patterns, across generations and through institutions. That is why repair is listed as a function in its own right. A system that cannot repair keeps reproducing its wounds.
Stability is not legitimacy
Systems built on control can be stable for a long time. The RSF therefore asks of every order: Who decided? Whom does it serve? Who controls it? Who can complain, and with what result?
Where it is applied
Leadership and coaching · governance and institutions · peacebuilding and conflict transformation · trauma-informed care and healing · education · organisational development · security sector and justice · humanitarian and development action.
Applications so far include a strategic leadership course (Institute for Peace and Dialogue, Basel) and draft analyses of the Great Lakes region and of polarisation in Europe. The RSF also serves as the analytical lens of the initiative Healthy Prosperity for Africa. → Agenda 2030 and 2063 through the RSF lens
Status and limits
The RSF is a descriptive framework and a set of hypotheses, not a proven theory. Its theoretical foundation is being set out in a series of scientific papers and will be submitted to independent review. A framework that defines repair as necessary will inevitably find gaps where repair is missing. That is why the RSF is used as a lens, alongside findings that do not come from it.
Healthy Prosperity for Africa · Evaluation · Method · Français