Systems Approach in International Research: on the Applicability of the Theoretical Heritage of Alexander Bogdanov

Systems Approach in International Research:
on the Applicability of the Theoretical Heritage of Alexander Bogdanov


Strezhneva M.V.,

Principal Researcher, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, m.strezhneva@imemo.ru


elibrary_id: 251783 | ORCID: 0000-0002-6561-4367 | RESEARCHER_ID: K-5421-2013


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2020.04.08

For citation:

Strezhneva M.V. Systems Approach in International Research: on the Applicability of the Theoretical Heritage of Alexander Bogdanov. – Polis. Political Studies. 2020. No. 4. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2020.04.08



Abstract

Systems Approach came to prominence in International Relations studies during the second half of the last century. However, now, any traditional perspective of the interstate system of International Relations has become obsolete. In this article, the organizational science (tectology) of Alexander Bogdanov is presented from the perspective of its sui generis systems research methodology, which, when first published, was vastly ahead of its time. The current virtue of Bogdanov’s tectology lies in the epistemological influence the principles he formulated have on the organization of systems complexes (such as conjugation, ingression and disingression), common for any objects. Detecting the dialectics of national and global processes remains an ongoing problem in international studies. Bogdanov’s scientific heritage seems relevant for approaching this problem now. In this article, the roots of his system-based vision and special aspects of these systems theories are analysed, allowing an all-important niche for Bogdanov’s science of organizations in such a context to be carved. As an example of relationism, tectology is juxtaposed with substantialism, and such International Relations theories are aligned with substantialism as structural realism, neoliberal institutionalism and sociological constructivism. Ontology and phenomenologism are considered in depth as characteristics of Bogdanov’s empiriomonistic theory; however, it is acknowledged that Cartesianism is more typical for key International Relations theories, as this can explain rationalism and dualism, matching principles of nature with rules of traditional mechanics. This article pays particular attention to Bogdanov’s notion of bi-regulation in multicomponent complexes, which have no use for external governance (as they are self-regulated). This notion might be helpful when trying to specify the pivotal role a territorial state might play despite the strengthening or weakening of power which institutions of multilevel global governance perennially undergo. The article is focused on Bogdanov’s methodology, which regards any human activity as a totality of collective experience, with the most significant aspect being social culture. When taking territorial aspects of contemporary global policy and its transnational features together, with the help of his system-tectological conception, we shall predominantly see features including “normal” conjunctions of organizational forms, which are undergoing constant processes of conjunction/disjunction, devoid of any unnecessary elements of high-stakes drama. 

Keywords
Bogdanov, system of international relations, global governance, tectology, Wendt, Bourdieu, phenomenology.


References

Adler-Nissen R. 2012. Bourdieu in International Relations. Rethinking Key Concepts in IR. London: Routledge. 230 p.

Alexander Bogdanov and the Origins of Systems Thinking in Russia. 1998. Ed. by J. Biggart, P. Dudley, F. King. Aldershot; Brookfield, USA: Ashgate, 362 p.

Bawden R.J. 1998. The Community Challenge: The Learning Response. – New Horizons in Education. Vol. 99. P. 40-59.

Brenner N. 1999. Beyond State-Centrism? Space, Territoriality, and Geographical Scale in Globalization Studies. – Theory and Society. Vol. 28. No. 1. P. 39-78.

Churchman C.W. 1968.The Systems Approach. New York: Delacorte Press.

Cox R.W. 1981. Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory. – Millennium: Journal of International Studies. Vol. 10. No. 2. P. 126-155. https://doi.org/10.1177/03058298810100020501

Croce B. 2017. The Philosophy of Giambattista Vico. New York: Routledge. 317 p.

Gare A. 2000. Aleksandr Bogdanov and Systems Theory. – Democracy & Nature. Vol. 6. No. 3. P. 341-359. https://doi.org/10.1080/10855660020020230

Hayek F.A. 1973. Law, Legislation and Liberty: A New Statement of the Liberal Principles of Justice and Political Economy. Volume I: Rules and Order. London, New York: Routledge. 244 p.

Jackson P. 2008. Pierre Bourdieu, the ‘Cultural Turn’ and the Practice of International History. – Review of International Studies. Vol. 34, No. 1, P. 155-181. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026021050800795X

Jackson P.Th., Nexon D.H. 1999. Relations Before States: Substance, Process and the Study of World Politics. – European Journal of International Relations. Vol. 5. No. 3. P. 291-332. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066199005003002

Jenkins R. 1982. Pierre Bourdieu and the Reproduction of Determinism. – Sociology. Vol. 16. No. 2, P. 270-281. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038582016002008

Keohane R.O. 1984. After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 320 p.

Kratochwil F.V. 2007. Evidence, Inference, and Truth as Problems of Theory Building in the Social Sciences. – Theory and Evidence in Comparative Politics and International Relations. Ed. by R. Lebow, M. Lichbach. New York: Palgrave. P. 25-54.

Lechner S., Frost M. 2018. Practice Theory and International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 258 p. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108645775

Parsons T. 1951. The Social System. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 404 p.

Rispoli G. 2019. The Space-Time Continuum and the Tektological Organization of the Earth-System. – ISRF Bulletin. No. 18. P. 25-30. URL: http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0003-A60A-7 (accessed 29.04.2020).

Seidl D. 2004. Luhmann’s Theory of Autopoetic Social Systems. – Munich Business Research. No. 2. URL: https://www.zfog.bwl.uni-muenchen.de/files/mitarbeiter/paper2004_2.pdf (accessed 29.04.2020).

Smuts J.Ch. 1973. Holism and Evolution. Westport, C.T.: Greenwood Press. 361 p.

Sochor Z.A. 1988. Revolution and Culture: The Bogdanov-Lenin Controversy. Ithaca, London: Cornell University Press. 258 p.

Sundberg J. 2014. Decolonizing Posthumanist Geographies. – Cultural Geographies. Vol. 21. No. 1. P. 33-47. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474013486067

Varela F.G., Maturana H.R., Uribe R. 1974. Autopoiesis: The Organisation of Living

Systems, Its Characterization and a Model. – Biosystems. Vol. 5. No. 4. P. 187-196. https://doi.org/10.1016/0303-2647(74)90031-8

Waltz K.N. 1979. Theory of International Politics. London, Amsterdam: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Inc. 251 p.

Wendt A. 2015. Quantum Mind and Social Science: Unifying Physical and Social Ontology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 354 p.

Wendt A. 1999. Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 429 p. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511612183

Wogu I.A.P. 2013. Behaviouralism as an Approach to Contemporary Political Analysis: an Appraisal. – International Journal of Education and Research. Vol. 1. No. 12. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278727800_BEHAVIOURALISM_AS_AN_APPROACH_TO_CONTEMPORARY_POLITICAL_ANALYSIS_AN_APPRAISAL (accessed 29.04.2020).

 

Blauberg I.V. 1997. Problema tselostnosti i sistemnyi podkhod [Integrity Problem and System Approach]. Moscow: Editorial URSS. 448 p. (In Russ.)

Blauberg I.V., Yudin E.G. 1973. Stanovlenie i sushchnost’ sistemnogo podkhoda [Formation and Essence of System Approach]. Moscow: Nauka Publishers. 270 p. (In Russ.) URL: http://tlf.msk.ru/school/Blauberg.pdf (accessed 29.04.2020).

Bogdanov [Malinovskii] A.A. [after 1914]. Filosofiya zhivogo opyta: (Populyarnye ocherki): Materializm, empiriokrititsizm, dialekticheskii materializm, empiriomonizm, nauka budushchego [Philosophy of Living Experience: (Popular Essays): Materialism, Empirio-Criticism, Dialectical Materialism, Empiriomonism, the Science of the Future]. Petrograd: M.I. Semenov. 272 p. (In Russ.) URL: http://e-heritage.ru/ras/view/publication/general.html?id=43378674 (accessed 29.04.2020).

Bogdanov A.A. 1924. O proletarskoi kul’ture. 1904-1924: publitsistika [On Proletarian Culture. 1904-1924: Political Essays]. Moscow, Leningrad: Kniga. 343 p. (In Russ.) URL: https://biblioclub.ru/index.php?page=-book_red&id=54312 (accessed 29.04.2020).

Bogdanov A.A. 2003. Empiriomonizm. Stat’i po filosofii [Empiriomonism. Articles on Philosophy]. Moscow: Respublika Publishers. 400 p. (In Russ.)

Bogdanov A.A. 2019. Tektologiya: Vseobschaya Organizatsionnaya Nauka [Essays in Tektology: The General Science of Organization]. Moscow: URSS. 680 p. (In Russ.)

Chubarov I.M. 1997. Predislovie [Foreword]. – Antologiya fenomenologicheskoi filosofii v Rossii. Vol. 1. [Anthology of Phenomenological Philosophy in Russia. Vol. 1]. Ed. by I.M. Chubarov. Moscow: Logos. P. 7-12. (In Russ.)

Chubarov I.M. 2014. Kollektivnaya chuvstvennost’: teorii i praktiki levogo avangarda [Collective Sensuality: Theories and Practices of the Left Avant-Garde]. Moscow: Publishing House of the Journal “Proletarian Culture”. 344 p. (In Russ.)

Degterev D.A., Istomin I.A. 2015. System Modeling of International Relations. – World Economy and International Relations. Vol. 59. No. 11. P. 17-30. (In Russ.) URL: https://www.imemo.ru/jour/meimo/index.php?page_id=1248&file=https://www.imemo.ru/files/File/magazines/meimo/11_2015/17_30_DEGTEREV.pdf (accessed 29.04.2020).

Knyazeva E.N. 2006. Epistemological Constructivism. – Philosophy of Science. Vol. 12. No. 1. P. 133-153. (In Russ.) URL: https://elibrary.ru/download/elibrary_23342526_26742837.pdf (accessed 29.04.2020).

Lepskii V.E., Sleptsov E.S. 2019. Vliyanie rabot A.A. Bogdanova na stanovlenie kibernetiki pervogo, vtorogo i tret’ego poryadka [The Influence of Tektology by A.A. Bogdanov upon the Start-up of the Cybernetics of First, Second and Third Order]. – Sbornik trudov XIII Vserossiiskogo soveshchaniya po problemam upravleniya VSPU-

2019 [Proceedings of the XIII All-Russian Meeting on Management Problems of the VSPU-2019]. Moscow: V.A. Trapeznikov Institute of Control Sciences of Russian Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.25728/vspu.2019.1554

Loktionov M. 2016. Alexander Bogdanov – the Founder of General Systems Theory. – Philosophy of Science and Technology. Vol. 21. No. 2. P. 80-96. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21146/2413-9084-2016-21-2-80-96

Luhmann N. 2007. Einfuhrung in die Systemtheorie. (Russ. ed.: Luhmann N. Vvedenie v sistemnuyu teoriyu. Moscow: Logos. 360 p.)

Parsons T. 1998. The System of Modern Societies. (Russ. ed.: Parsons T. Sistema sovremennykh obshchestv. Moscow: Aspect Press. 270 p.)

Pozdnyakov E.A. 1976. Sistemnyi podkhod i mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya [Systematic Approach and International Relations]. Moscow: Nauka Publishers. 159 p. (In Russ.)

Protsess formirovaniya i osushchestvleniya vneshnei politiki kapitalisticheskikh gosudarstv [The Process of Formation and Implementation of the Foreign Policy of Capitalist States]. 1981. Ed. by V.I. Gantman. Moscow: Nauka Publishers. 488 p. (In Russ.)

Sadovskij V.N. 1974. Osnovaniya obshchei teorii sistem: logiko-metodologicheskii analiz [Foundations of the General Systems Theory: Logical-Methodological analysis]. Moscow: Nauka Publishers. 280 p. (In Russ.) URL: http://systems-analysis.ru/assets/systems_theory_sadovsky.pdf (accessed 29.04.2020).

Shabatura L.N. 2016. A.A. Bogdanov’s Ontology of Cosmism. – Society: Philosophy, History, Culture. No. 12. P. 15-17. (In Russ.)

Shpet G.G. 2005. Mysl’ i Slovo. Izbrannye Trudy [Thought and the Word. Selected Works]. Moscow: ROSSPEN. 688 p.

Takhtadzhyan A.L. 2007. Na puti k universal’noi evolyutsionnoi nauki [On the Way to Universal Evolutionary Science]. – Takhtadzhyan A.L. Grani evolyutsii. Stat’i po teorii evolyutsii 1943-2006 [Facets of Evolution. Articles on the Theory of Evolution 1943-2006]. St. Petersburg: Nauka Publishers. P. 258-260. (In Russ.)

Urmantsev Yu.A. 2014. Obshchaya teoriya sistem v dostupnom izlozhenii [General Theory of Systems in an Accessible Presentation]. Moscow, Izhevsk: Regulyarnaya i khaoticheskaya dinamika. 408 p. (In Russ.)

Weber M. 2016. Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Grundriss der verstehenden Soziologie. (Russ. ed.: Weber M. Khozyaistvo i obshchestvo: ocherki ponimayushchei sotsiologii. Sotsiologiya. Moscow: HSE Publishing House. 445 p.) 

Content No. 4, 2020

See also:


Osokina Ye.A.,
Influence of American Mass Media on Mass Consciousness (With the Conflicts of the USA with Iraq in 1990-1991 and in 2002-2003 as Example).. – Polis. Political Studies. 2008. No1

Mushakoji K.,
Political and Cultural Background of Conflicts and Global Governance. – Polis. Political Studies. 1991. No3

Alekseyeva T.A., Lebedeva M.M.,
What Is Happening to the Theory of International Relations. – Polis. Political Studies. 2016. No1

Bardin A.L.,
Principles of the global governance on the basis of international financial institutions. – Polis. Political Studies. 2013. No4

Konyshev V.N., Sergunin A.A.,
International relations theory: on the threshold of new «Great Debates»?. – Polis. Political Studies. 2013. No2

 

   

Introducing an article



Polis. Political Studies
2 2005


Shirikov A.S.
Transitology: the Lingering Farewell?

 The article text
 

Archive

   2024      2023      2022      2021   
   2020      2019      2018      2017      2016   
   2015      2014      2013      2012      2011   
   2010      2009      2008      2007      2006   
   2005      2004      2003      2002      2001   
   2000      1999      1998      1997      1996   
   1995      1994      1993      1992      1991