This paper proposes a unifying framework for the engineering of dependable self-adaptive (SA) and self-organising (SO) systems. We first identify requirements for designing and building such SA and SO systems. Second, we propose a generic framework combining design-time and run-time features which permit the definition and analysis at design-time of mechanisms that both ensure and constrain the run-time behaviour of an SA or SO system, thereby providing some assurance of its self-* capabilities. We show how this framework applies to two different systems: (1) a dynamically resilient Web service system (2) design of an industrial assembly system with both SA and SO capabilities.