1. A method for managing and controlling the discovery and maintenance of routes in a mobile ad hoc network comprising a plurality of wireless mobile nodes and a plurality of wireless communication links connecting the nodes together, the method comprising: building and updating route tables at each node with a first one of proactive and reactive route discovery processes to define routes in the network, a route comprising a set of links and nodes from a source to a destination; collecting and storing route stability information at each node; predicting route stability over time based upon the route stability information; and switching to a second one of the proactive and reactive route discovery processes when predicted route stability reaches a first transition parameter.