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Non-equilibrium is a fundamental characteristic of rangelands and pastoralism. The non-equilibrium (NE) paradigm emerged primarily in response to problems in management, especially in the context of pastoral development. Aiming their arguments at the World Ban k and other multilateral organizations, anthropologists and development professionals demonstrated that the use of equilibrium ideas – such as climax to evaluate range conditions, carrying capacities to set stocking rates, and succession to remedy degradation – had backfired repeatedly. Such shortcomings were familiar in the scientific community, but an alternative paradigm remained elusive until after the 2nd International Rangeland Congress in Adelaide in 1984. Following seminal publications on the topic (Ellis and Swift 1988; Westoby et al. 1989; Behnke et al. 1993), the NE paradigm was widely analyzed, debated, and largely adopted by global scholars, especially for drier, more variable rangelands (Illius and O'Connor 1999; Vetter 2005). Tools reflecting NE, such as state-and-transition models and satellite-based assessments of rangeland productivity, are now widely produced (Allred et al. 2022, Bestelmeyer et al. 2017). Widespread acceptance among scientists has not translated readily into the practices of pastoral development, however. In this paper we reflect on how the NE paradigm has shaped global rangeland management and governance over the past 30 years. Are rangeland systems better managed because of it? What are the prospects for the NE paradigm to support adaptation to global change in rangelands in the years ahead? We argue that while debates about NE concepts have faded into the background, the implications of NE are more important than ever.