Thus all deterministic description

Thus all deterministic description breaks down when a dissipa­ tive structure crosses the bifurcation point. Minute fluctuations in the environment will lead to the choice of the branch it will follow. And since, in a sense, it is those random fluctuations that lead to the emergence of new forms of order, Prigogine has coined the phrase "order through fluctuations" to describe the situation.The equations of Prigogine's theory are deterministic equations. They govern the system's behavior between bifurcation points, while random fluctuations are decisive at the points of instability. Thus "self-organization processes in far-from-equilibrium condi­ tions correspond to a delicate interplay between chance and neces­ sity, between fluctuations and deterministic laws."