Synergetics of Political Processes

Complexity science is an intellectual tradition which is deeply rooted in systems theory and information theory. The common premise of these two theories is that different types of systems portray the same qualities in structure and organization, which makes it possible to draw parallels between heterogeneous phenomena. Complexity theory offers terminology and methodology for political science studies, it can give a prism to analyze political institutions and processes. Despite several common junctures with political science, the potential of synergetics for political studies remains underestimated. The advantage of a synergetic approach resides in the fact that it can be used for the analysis of processes at all abstraction levels, from individual to macrosystem. The aim of this article is the systematization of the views on political processes based on synergetic methodology. The article offers the definition and characteristics of complex systems, analyzes the trajectories of their evolutionary development. Agents and leaders in the internal environment are regarded separately. The main characteristics of complex systems are self-organization, interdependence, positive and negative feedback processes, history of interactions, and path dependence. Complex adaptive systems, the main objects of synergetic analysis, change through self-organization, not through guided transformations. Those are non-linear systems, in which a minor change can lead to global consequences. The stronger the connections between the systems are, the higher the probability of cascade effects is. System innovations are introduced under the conditions of low control and high uncertainty. In most cases political problems do not get solutions until they reach crisis levels because political systems are characterized by inertia. Though ideology and group identification provide guidance for the agents' behavior under complex circumstances, they also contribute to system rigidity. Institutional norms that give a frame to political action become the second source of system rigidity. System change occurs either when the external signal is stronger than the inertia, or when the signals accumulate. In politics, complexity is revealed in the following forms: non-linear causality, uneven selection of problems for the agenda, majority veto effect, context effect, and the Titanic effect. Synergetic methodology has an applied character and can lead the political studies to the complexity level, consistent with the complexity level of the phenomena in question.

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