Modelling Countries as Dissipative Systems: A Thermodynamic Lens on Resource Flows and Sustainability

This study introduces a thermodynamic framework to model nation states as resource‐driven dissipative structures. It conceptualizes sustainability as a function of entropy management, wherein external resource inflows are metabolized into internal organization and entropy dissipation. The model is used to evaluate and predict future sustainability trajectories, self‐sufficiency policies, outsourcing strategies and migration dynamics by analysing the direction of resource flows, entropy production rates and entropy release mechanisms. In addition, two entropy‐release mechanisms are examined: proxy relationships and entropy sinks. By extending physical principles to socio‐political systems, the framework classifies four systemic regimes—sustained growth, unsustained growth, gradual decay and rapid collapse—based on resource accumulation ( ṠDS,acc) and organization entropy ( ṠDS,org). Empirical examples across varied geopolitical contexts demonstrate how resource alignment and entropy‐release pathways influence systemic sustainability. This cross‐disciplinary approach provides a conceptual toolset for assessing systemic coherence and sustainability across diverse real‐world configurations.