Scholarly record

ARE THERE LIMITS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE? CYBERNETIC APPROACH TO THE PROBLEMS OF POLITICAL STABILITY AND CIVIL SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT

V. G. Ivanov, I. N. Kurinin, A. V. Teplov, A. S. Belchenko, M. G. Ivanova

Abstract

In politics if we consider complex social systems and processes manifests itself the dichotomy between “stability and manageability” of a political system and “socio-political diversity” which brings modernization impulses that are making political systems more diverse. This is especially noticeable for the states in transition with anocratic political regimes and supranational entities. This kind of social dichotomy, however, should not be confused with the pure dichotomy between democratic and authoritarian tendencies. The main problem in this context becomes compatibility between optimal manageability and stability of political entities that potentially limits the borders of good governance. Contemporary globalization processes additionally increase level of diversity on national, regional and global levels adding pressure to governments to preserve their efficiency and control. The authors state that the principle of dichotomy is applicable to most social systems: from civil society organizations to the global institutions. This dichotomy beyond its political hypostasis attracts special attention of scholars and specialists in cybernetics and management. In the article, the authors combine methodological principles of mathematics (W. Ashby, N. Levantovskiy) and political science (O. Shabrov, M. Kaldor) to analyze and propose possible solutions to “the problem of correlations of diversities”. The authors conclude that during the age of globalization the borders and coordinating elements of the possible effective balance between manageability and diversity have narrowed. Both excessive centralization and excessive diversity of a ruling sub-system could negatively affect stability of a political system, identity and efficiency of a society and legitimacy of power. The processes of regionnal and global integration have also faced this challenge, with the European Union as the most obvious example.

Publication details

Back to publication list