Potentiality of Cybernetics for Socio-Political Conflict Resolution

A Proposed Model for SAARC Member Countries

By
Dr. Subodh Chandra Garai

Former Principal
Baruipur College
(at south of Kolkata)
(PIN – 743610)

Residence:
Laskarpur (Purbapara)
(in between Garia and Narendrapur)
PIN – 700153

[Presented at Internatioal Seminar Held on 10-11 Nov., 2016 at BANKURA UNIVERSITY
Bankura, W. Bengal, India]

Abstract

The party or leader in power is traditionally being considered completely honest, intellectually sound and efficient whereas the party or leader who was recently defeated is considered disgustingly dishonest, dull and inefficient – in fact, is this cent percent correct? The ruling party and its followers (i) try to oppress or dominate opponents to create a master-slave relationship even applying brutal force and hence violence compelling surrender (with latent grievance creating future possibility of ventilating it in terms of retaliation/ resistance which again calls for force and hence violence) – these situations naturally encourage maintenance/ hiring of private army and illegal arms-ammunitions and (ii) show vindictive attitudes towards opponents and extraordinary sympathy towards party colleagues or members of their factions and hence misusing the constitutional authority fostering own party objectives rather than safeguarding and promoting national or social objectives. Should these situations prevail in future too? The ruling party and its followers try to deceive the followers of other party with regard to carrier opportunities whereas followers of same party/ group get extra favour. Is it not possible to alter the situation? In modern days, resources are becoming scarce due to their multiple uses and also due to increase in demand for increase of population and standard of living. But those resources have also parallel use to boost political violence; again, such violence destroys/ disfigures even antiques and heritages or destroys/ delays developmental projects. Should this socio-political environment prevail in future too? Almost all political parties proposed as well as opposed Ombudsman system for controlling administrative excesses or misuse of public authority/ power, e.g., system of control by Lokpal or Lokayukth. Is it not possible to devise/ inoculate a system of control within and by the (political) system itself, following the principle of cybernetics in mechanics as well as in living things or internal check system in business management or accounting/ auditing, for good governance?

Introduction

To begin with, we are narrating some contemporary socio-political situations/ issues here which should be addressed in the next section and, subsequently, for appropriate socio-political conflict resolution, some reasonable prescriptions can be given:

1. Hero-Zero Situation:

The party or leader in power is traditionally being considered as full-proof and completely honest, intellectually sound and efficient whereas the party or leader who was recently defeated is considered disgustingly dishonest, dull and inefficient. In fact, is this cent percent correct?
Is it not at all possible to continue playing positive/ constructive role by the defeated party or leader to supplement the role of ruling party or leader, for social stability or development?

2. Situation of Political-Violence:

The ruling party and its followers (capturing power) try to oppress or dominate opponents to create a master-slave relationship even applying brutal force and hence violence that deserves surrender of the opponents (with latent grievance for the time being creating future possibility of ventilating it in terms of retaliation or resistance which again calls for force and hence violence) – these situations naturally encourage maintenance of private army (or utilizing hired miscreants) and illegal arms and ammunitions like jaminders of earlier days. As a consequence, to mitigate or control violence, excessive police force equipped with modern technologically updated instruments as well as methods are being required now that elicits heavy public expenditures and, as an inevitable consequence, inadequate attention towards maintenance of normal law and order situation and public tranquility.
Should these situations prevail in future too?

3. Biased Attention by Ruling Party-Leader towards Opponents’ Grievances:

The ruling party and its followers (occupying responsible position in public administration) show vindictive attitudes towards opponents and extraordinary sympathy towards party colleagues or members of their factions and hence misusing the constitutional power/ authority fostering own party objectives rather than safeguarding and promoting national or social objectives for the welfare of general public at large.
Should these situations prevail in future too?

4. Biased Attention by Ruling Party-Leader towards Opponents’ Opportunities:

The ruling party and its followers (occupying responsible position in public) try to deceive the followers of other party with regard to carrier opportunities, e.g., education, business or employment potentiality and the like, whereas followers of same party/ group get extra favour in those matters.
Is it not possible to alter the situation or at least to alleviate the situational disparity between negative favour against opponents’ person and positive favour for own person of the ruler?

5. Sub-Optimal Utilisation of Resources towards Public Welfare and Sustainable Development due to Application of Those Resources for Political Violence:

In modern days, resources (physical, human and cultural) are gradually becoming scarce due to their multiplicity of uses and due to increase of demand for population increase as well as increase of standard of living. But those resources have also parallel use to boost political violence; again, such violence destroys/ disfigures even antiques, memoirs and heritages or destroys/ delays developmental projects.
Should this socio-political environment prevail in future too?

6. Controlling Excesses of Ruler by External Body/ Agency, e.g., Ombudsman, Attracts Resistance/ Unacceptance by Political Leaders:

Almost all political parties proposed as well as opposed Ombudsman system for controlling administrative excesses or misuse of public authority/ power, e.g., system of control by Lokpal or Lokayukth.
Is it not possible to devise/ inoculate a system of control within and by the (political) system itself, following the principle of cybernetics in mechanics as well as in living things or internal check system in business management system or, more specifically, accounting/ auditing, for the sake of better future governance?
Are bionic principles not at all applicable in political system with democratic flavour?

In the next section, we shall attempt to survey the existing literature on the applications of cybernetic principles and processes as well as role of media, for successful performance of a democratic system in this electronic age of globalised socio-economic perspective. In the subsequent section, we shall strive to propose the model of a self-reliant political system, with an expectation of a better socio-political environment in future.

Survey of Existing Literature

     The word cybernetics¹ was first used by Athenian philosopher Plato (427 – 347 B. C., the student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle) in the context of “the study of self-governance” by him in his last work (unfinished at the time of his death)² The Laws to signify the governance of people.

     On the concept of ‘cybernetics’, we may first take a notice on the view³ expressed in Encyclopædia Britannica, viz.,

Cybernetics is associated with models in which a monitor compares⁴ what is happening to a system at various sampling times with some standard of what should be happening, and a controller adjusts the system’s behaviour accordingly.

Pictorially a Cybernetic Model with, say, Controller (A) & Monitor (B)

The term cybernetics comes from the ancient Greek word kybernetikos (“good at steering”), referring to the art of the helmsman. In the first half of the 19th century, the French physicist André-Marie Ampère⁵, in his classification of the sciences¹, suggested that the still nonexistent science of the control of governments be called cybernetics. The term was soon forgotten, however, and it was not used again until the American mathematician Norbert Wiener published his book Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine in 1948.

     However, some interesting and noteworthy definitions of Cybernetics are reproduced from Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia, hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other projects) here as

Wiener (1948) defined cybernetics⁶ in 1948 as “the scientific study of control and communication in the animal and the machine.”
“Science concerned with the study of systems of any nature which are capable of receiving, storing and processing information so as to use it for control.” — Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov (25 April 1903 – 20 October 1987).
“A way of thinking about ways of thinking of which it is one.” — Laurance D. Larry Richards, one past president (1986-1988) of the American Society for Cybernetics and also president (1988-1999) of the American Society for Engineering Management; he was a member of the editorial board for the journals Cybernetic (1987-1989) and Systems Research (1988-1994) and a consulting editor (1992-1994) for Cybernetics and Human Knowing.
“The science and art of the understanding of understanding.” — Rodney E. Donaldson, another past president (1992-1993) of the American Society for Cybernetics.
“Cybernetics is the study of systems and processes that interact with themselves and produce themselves from themselves”⁷— Louis H. Kauffman, another past president (2005-2008) of the American Society for Cybernetics; in topology he introduced and developed the ‘bracket polynomial’ and ‘Kauffman polynomial’ — the knot theory and also found relationship between cybernetics and knots⁸.

     Systems theory in political science⁹ is a highly abstract, partly holistic view of politics, influenced by cybernetics¹⁰. The adaptation of system theory to political science was first conceived by David Easton in 1953, as reported by Wikipedia:

In simple terms, Easton’s behavioral¹¹ approach to politics, proposed that a political system could be seen as a delimited (i.e., all political systems have precise boundaries) and fluid (changing) system of steps in decision making. Greatly simplifying his model:

Step 1. Changes in the social or physical environment surrounding a political system produce “demands” and “supports” for action or the status quo directed as “inputs” towards the political system, through political behavior.
Step 2. These demands and supporting groups stimulate competition in a political system, leading to decisions or “outputs” directed at some aspect of the surrounding social or physical environment.
Step 3. After a decision or output is made (e.g., a specific policy), it interacts with its environment, and if it produces change in the environment, there are “outcomes.”
Step 4. When a new policy interacts with its environment, outcomes may generate new demands or supports and groups in support or against the policy (“feedback”) or a new policy on some related matter.
Step 5. Feedback, leads back to Step 1, forming a never-ending cycle.

If the system functions as described, then we have a “stable political system”. If the system breaks down, then we have a “dysfunctional political system”.
Easton aspired to make politics a science that is, working with highly abstract models that described the regularities of patterns and processes in political life in general. In his view, the highest level of abstraction could make scientific generalizations about politics possible. In sum, politics should be seen as a whole, not as a collection of different problems to be solved.
His main model was driven by an organic view of politics, as if it were a living object. His theory is a statement of what makes political systems adapt and survive. He describes politics in a constant flux, thereby rejecting the idea of “equilibrium”, so prevalent in some other political theories. Moreover, he rejects the idea that politics could be examined by looking at different levels of analysis. His abstractions could account for any group and demand at any given time. That is, interest group theory and elite theory can be subsumed in political systems analysis.
His theory was and is highly influential in the pluralist tradition in political science.

     In the earlier cited source (viz., Wikipedia), it is mentioned that in artificial intelligence, computer vision, control systems, conversation theory, interactions of actors theory, learning organization, robotics and also in biology, computer science, engineering, management¹², mathematics, psychology, sociology¹³, education, art and earth system science the principles and processes of cybernetics are applied. Cybernetics is also applied in complexity science (complex adaptive system, complex systems and complexity theory) and biomechatronics.

     In political science¹⁴, Project Cybersyn¹⁵ attempted to introduce a cybernetically controlled economy during the early 1970s. In the 1980s, according to Harries-Jones (1988) “unlike its predecessor, the new cybernetics concerns itself with the interaction of autonomous political actors and subgroups, and the practical and reflexive consciousness of the subjects who produce and reproduce the structure of a political community. A dominant consideration is that of recursiveness, or self-reference of political action both with regards to the expression of political consciousness and with the ways in which systems build upon themselves”. This opinion was passed by him as a critic of the work by Dobuzinskis (1987).

     Thus, in case of every system, for its proper functioning to survive/ sustain, the application of cybernetic principles and processes is desirable, aiming at self-control by the system itself through sub-system of governor(s) and feedback mechanism (of output information) to control input or to adjust the system itself or the internal process to attain/ maintain a normative level of output/ outcome. And hence, on universal applicability of cybernetics, the following two assertions¹⁶ worth noting:

“Of course, the field of cybernetics is much broader, embracing all steering processes, and its principal aim is to identify general principles of steering and control.” – Piotrowski (2012), in the 1st paragraph.
“That is, I want the label ‘cybernetics’ to attract people who have an interest in both the subject and practice of conversation, and of creating the ‘new’ out of this form of dynamic interaction, irrespective of whether their interests are in electronics, life, society, or mind, and whether they come from science, art, or politics.” – Richards (1999), under sub-topic ‘Introduction’ of the topic ‘Definitions of Cybernetics’.

Also, the similar assertion by Kolmogorov (cited earlier from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics#Definitions) is noteworthy enough. Regarding the appropriateness of cybernetics in political science, “the French physicist and mathematician André-Marie Ampère first coined the word ‘cybernetique’ in his 1834 essay ‘Essaisur la philosophie des sciences’ to describe the science of civil government” – retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics#Definitions, under Etymology.

     Regarding sustainability of democracy and application of cybernetics, feedback information and control systems and the like, in this ‘cyber age’ or ‘knowledge age’, views expressed in Laszlo (1984, it conceptualized human societies as natural systems satisfying four basic system criteria: Ordered wholeness; negative feedback deviation-reducing capability; positive feedback deviation-amplifying, self-evolving capacity; and dual-structural adaptation to sub- as well as supra-systems) is noteworthy. And also the views in Birrer (1999, Frans A. J. Birrer is from Mathematics, Computer Science & Society, Leiden, The Netherlands), worth mentioning as

An examination of critique on early systems and cybernetics approaches leads to specific tasks for second order cybernetics, particularly with respect to the role and responsibility of the systems analyst (second order observer). The use of scientific advice should preserve as much as possible the principles of participation and democracy. This implies a modified view of the status of expert statements, as well as the necessity of certain checks and balances. The latter leads to interesting and relevant questions for cybernetics. Two mechanisms are identified that can make the role of research distorting rather than enlightening the problems at hand. Environmental issues constitute a prominent field where the limitations of classical approaches as well as the opportunities for second order cybernetics can be demonstrated. Improving on overall sustainability depends on democracy and participation. Checks and balances guarding the role of expertise are essential.

     Some other relevant and thought-provoking research works in this line are Tumbull (1994, it identifies four types of governance mechanisms from which the theory of the firm becomes a special case of a general theory of social construction — the design criteria are based on the closed-loop feedback information and control systems found in all living things), Espinosa et al. (2005, this paper synthesizes the somewhat different insights of Stafford Beer and the ‘Santiago School of Cognition’, reports on a real-world initiative that sought to instantiate governance as a phenomenon constituted by the governed and technological developments of the ‘knowledge age’ are proposed as supporting such democratic initiatives), Leonard (2006, recommending the proper application of cybernetic control principles to governance and democracy considering momentum, requisite variety and scale), Vedel (2006, discussed on three ages of ‘electronic democracy’, the first age of which began in the 1950s with the emergence of cybernetics sciences under Norbert Wiener), Espinosa (2007, from a cybernetic perspective, explains why the development of structural conditions for democratic involvement is a necessary condition for the effective implementation of evolutionary development at the societal level) and Andrew (2008, the CYBCOM¹⁷ discussion list, on possible revision of the definition and nomenclature of cybernetics, is reviewed and discussed, as are also certain proposals for enhancement of existing systems of parliamentary democracy, indicated by e-democracy).

     Concerning socio-political conflict resolution applying systems model, cybernetics and all that, (besides others) research works are found in Knight et al. (1971), Chestnut (1986, Harold Chestnut was the first president of the International Federation of Automatic Control), Chestnut et al. (1990), Byrne (2003, reference to cybernetic process is given in Introduction, Table 1 and ‘Use Objective Criteria’ section), Hipel (2009), Ramsbotham et al. (2011), Lent (2013), Zaraté et al. (2014, papers on Proceedings of the Joint International Conference of the INFORMS GDN Section and the EURO Working Group of Decision Systems Support) and Zhou et al. (2015).

     Mass media (especially print media) is popularly called the fourth estate or fourth branch of government, hence, for successful performance of a democratic system, role of responsible media¹⁸ is certainly important, at least to confirm or refute the veracity of information published or supplied to the public institutions as well as general public at large by the executives in public administration (including political leaders at different levels). As to the contribution of mass media to modern democracies, a few of the recent research works¹⁹ are Kriesi (2012), Kriesi et al. (2013, in the last monograph considering monographs of all authors, the first author Kriesi assessed the state of democracy given the challenges of globalization and mediatization), Müller (2014a and 2014b, examines the contribution of mass media to modern democracies, in comparative perspective) and Humprecht (2016).

     From the foregoing review of literature, it is quite alluring to suggest that the future generation students should learn the subjects like Set Theory, Logic, Cybernetics (including Computer Applications), and certainly, Statistics as well as Journalism with Political Science; as an analogy, the related subjects considered in case of Philosophy are Logic, Ethics, Psychology etc.

Design of the Proposed Model of Self-Reliant Political System

     In this section, we are in a position to strive for proposing and designing the model of self-reliant political system, with an expectation of a better socio-political environment and, certainly, to get rid of all the six odd situations/ issues raised in the introductory section.

     To start with, let us consider a (apparently observed) process of gaining power which is contemplated and exhibited in Figure 1 (a movement to the right indicates a later state and a sub-set of left mentioned items). In this figure, in case of religious leaders, some miracles are canvassed by a very few number of closely related disciples to get blind confidence hence support of a large section of public – but their case is beyond our consideration here, since no scientific justification supports their footing and hence we should concentrate our attention in acquisition of power²⁰ in a political system, to dominate a considerably large section of public, i.e., followers.

     Before prescription of a detailed design of the proposed model, let us now consider a feedback diagram, similar to one shown at the end of end note 7 and also earlier, which is depicted here as a flow chart in Figure 2:

In Figure 2, (i) P_i, P_e and P_o will represent three activities, viz., input(s), execution and output(s) respectively (the subscripts – i for input, e for execution and o for output), of the party or leader in power, P, (ii) M will represent opposition party representative or leader and (iii) C will represent a constitutionally authorized independent person holding quasi-judicial authority to get feedback from M; C will scrutinize the feedback information or signal and do the needful as indicated in the diagram, applying prudence and judgement – the resulting set up then should be called a self-reliant²¹ political system with a feedback and correction mechanism. Role, authority and ambit of M will also be constitutionally determined and M will only be authorised to collect information periodically (say, weekly or monthly) and may take help of reliable and responsible media, general public or non-governmental organizations (including semi-governmental organizations, like Pollution Control Board, Human Rights Commission etc.). And C should suggest correction for significantly negative deviation from the norm (a broad-band socially determined standard or the pre-determined government policy), desirably in quantitative term, i.e., in money unit, time unit or any other fundamental or derived unit of measurement (objectively defined) – if the policy parameter is qualitative in nature that also should be precisely defined and properly published. P_i’s are the inputs of prevailing or hired nature and they are the resources of any kind, i.e., physical, human or cultural types – tangible or intangible (i.e., service or right). Whereas Po’s are outputs of the nature of commodity, service or infrastructure (even right in rem or in persona of public, relief, equitable treatment etc.). Normally, C should have no commanding authority²² to force correction but should be authorized to refer the exceptional case²³ (i.e., highly intolerable negative deviation) to a traditional court of law with appropriate jurisdiction and hence such court may enforce suggested or appropriate corrections. Thus, on the condition that there is complete absence of collusion²⁴ or connivance between two or more parties (i.e., P, M and C), the system is highly expected to produce better result. Hence, for each level (i.e., local self-government, municipal body/authority, state or central level) same structure can be adopted. The person C may act in common for more than one units (e.g., more than one gram panchayats) or say, only one such person for the whole panchayat samity. And M’s may be different persons for local level and state level with different quality or experience (to be selected by opposition). All the persons in the three categories should be honoured by remunerating from the national exchequer, for their valued service to the nation. If required, appropriate personal safety and other facility may also be guaranteed by the state, in favour of both M and C. Hence, oppositions may be considered as the fifth estate or fifth branch of the government.

     The following advantages are highly expected from the implementation of the model described in this section (in the preceding paragraph):

1. To the Oppositions: They
   1. get importance to a certain extent;
   2. being remunerated, get opportunity to work for gainful engagement – thus necessity of anti-defection law will no more be strongly justified;
   3. provide continuous service to society, for its welfare or early warning to avoid social wastage/ loss — thus chance of regaining social acceptance/ confidence;
   4. get information about ruling party’s activities so as to prepare them by adopting good deeds of the ruling party, in principle – to prepare themselves to be more deserving to general public in future and
   5. help the quasi-judicial authority by supplying relevant information in time – thus getting satisfaction and confidence.
2. To the Ruling Party: From the system,
   1. indirectly getting help by the leaders of the ruling party, they have an opening to rectify and hence, to optimize social welfare in exchange of minimum cost and hazard;
   2. almost timely relevant and vital bits of information in terms of feedback may give a chance to modify the actions or even the plan/ policy;
   3. valued source of information being bestowed upon – in case of error, fraud or conspiracy committed by a follower, it provides opportunity to take timely and appropriate remedial measure;
   4. the provision for appreciation (in favour of good deeds) by the quasi-judicial authority will boost the moral strength of the ruling party leaders – that will maintain or even enhance the confidence of the followers including supporters from general public and
   5. the leaders in power get a guarantee that if defeated in the next election, they will not be totally ousted from future opportunities or importance rather will get due respect as well as gainful engagement – such a guarantee will minimize misuse of constitutional authority or growth of favouritism and hence corruption.
3. To the Society at Large:
   1. A congenial, compromising and cooperative attitude of ruling and opposition parties can be able to restore public tranquility and hence social atmosphere becoming friendly academic pursuit, business as well as industrial activity and also all sphere of life will be more simple as well as encouraging and stimulating enough. It is also expected that number of litigations will come down.
   2. Quality goods, services, facilities, opportunities, reliefs, treatments and infrastructures will be available to the peace loving citizens for reasonable public expenditure (by the state, individuals or organizations) and hence that will sufficiently compensate even surpass the additional expenses (to be borne by the state for administering the proposed model).
   3. Politics having been a respectable profession, many honest, socialized and knowledgeable as well as proficient persons will be keen to join and practice the profession.
   4. Above all, the resultant reputation of the concerned unit (i.e., gram panchayat, panchayatsamity, zilaparishad, municipal body/authority, state or country, as the case may be) will make proud not only the ruling party or its members but also all inhabitants of the concerned administrative unit.
   5. Lastly, a recent trend in world politics as well as in our country is that politics is no more considered as a merely social service (free of cost) rather it is clearly visioned as an independent profession (for earning at least livelihood)²⁵ and hence implementation of the proposed model will advance that view recognizing politics as a full-fledged profession – at least in a sovereign modern country like ours.

Conclusions

     In this paper, initially, some contemporary socio-political odd situations/ issues were reported. After review of existing literature on applicability of cybernetic principles and processes (that are successfully operating in living things as well as in some machines) and also role of responsible media for efficient running of a democratic system, applying the principles and processes of cybernetics, a self-reliant model of socio-political system in modification of the system in operation is devised where role of oppositions is respected and formally incorporated in the main political system. It is highly expected that the resultant socio-political system (after such incorporation of the proposed model) will mitigate the odd situations mentioned earlier and also it will be operationally cost saving and quality improving system that will be beneficial to public in general as well as to the party in power and the oppositions; as a byproduct of the resultant system, politics will be honoured by professional recognition.

End Notes

1.  Retrieved from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Cybernetics#History (under the subtopic ‘The roots of cybernetic theory’).
      Historically, application of cybernetic principle and process was first traced in the water clock or clepsydra (“water thief”), invented by Ctesibius or Ktesibios or Tesibius (Greek: Κτησίβιος; fl. 285–222 BC) was a Greek inventor and mathematician in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt. Based on a tank which poured water into a reservoir before using it to run the mechanism, it used a cone-shaped float to monitor the level of the water in its reservoir and adjust the rate of flow of the water accordingly to maintain (restricting overflow also) a constant level of water in the reservoir. – Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics#Roots_of_cybernetic_theory.

2.  Retrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/plato/#SH7f.

3.  Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/cybernetics.

4.  This process is known as feedback or homeostasis, retrieved from http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/article-325313/homeostasis, for details of feedback (positive and negative). The relationship between cybernetics and homeostasis as well as relevance of homeostasis for human being, a society or a machine is better described at http://everything2.com/title/Cybernetic+theory+and+homeostasis.

5.  André-Marie Ampère, (born Jan. 22, 1775, Lyon, France — died June 10, 1836, Marseille) French physicist who founded and named the science of electrodynamics, now known as electromagnetism. His name endures in everyday life in the ampere, the unit for measuring electric current. – Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andre-Marie-Ampere.

6.  In this context, Wiener (1950) in the section ‘CYBERNETICS IN HISTORY’ explained the word ‘Cybernetics’ and its origin from the Greek word kubernẽtẽs which means “steersman” as well as “governor”.
Heinz von Foerster (German spelling: Heinz von Förster; November 13, 1911, Vienna – October 2, 2002, Pescadero, California) was an Austrian American scientist combining physics and philosophy, and widely attributed as the originator of Second-order cybernetics (i.e., cybernetics of cybernetics). He was twice a Guggenheim fellow (1956–57 and 1963–64) and also was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1980. He is well known for his 1960 Doomsday equation (Foerster et al., 1960) formula published in Science predicting future population growth. – Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_von_Foerster.
      The Third-order cybernetics is seen as the relationship which exists between the observers in a network. A cognitive approach that aims at analyzing the link among relational properties, communication, and organizational change processes, is developed by Johannessen and Hauan (1994). The Fourth-order cybernetics is understood as concerned with how multiple realities are shaped by, and impinge upon, power relationships within society — retrieved from http://kairos.laetusinpraesens.org/thirdord_0_h_9 and also Božičnik and Mulej (2011). Even the existence of Fifth-order cybernetics is referred by Novikov (2016), published on 10 January, 2016 – Table 1.1 on ‘Different types of cybernetics’ in page no.12 of the book also deserves special attention of the future researchers on cybernetics and its applications.

7.  Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics#Etymology, the section on ‘Etymology’. A simple feedback pictorial model (actual figure is available direct from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Ideal_feedback_model.svg) is also reproduced here from that section as

8.  Cybernetic Math Cyber{K}nots, retrieved from http://homepages.math.uic.edu/~kauffman/.

9.  From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_theory_in_political_science.

10.  Vide Easton (1953), Easton (1965a) and Easton (1965b) – David Easton (June 24, 1917 – July 19, 1914) was a Canadian (Toronto, Ontario)-born American political scientist and was, amongst other prominent positions, president (1968–1969) of the American Political Science Association and also served as chairman (1972) of the Committee on Scientific Information Exchange of the American Political Science Association.

11.  Again, as per Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior), behavior (or behaviour) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with themselves or their environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the (inanimate) physical environment. It is the response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary.

12.  The applications of cybernetics in management science can be found (besides others) in Ghosal (1980), Hanika (1982), Morgan (2006, identified eight images or metaphors of organisations, viz., as Machines, as Organism, as Brains, as Cultures, as Political Systems, as Psychic Prisons, as Flux and Transformation and as Instruments of Dominations – discussed on the nature of each metaphor and its role in understanding organization and management), Zannetos (2015) and Malik (2016). Cybernetics is also very relevant to Nudge Theory – a powerful change-management methodology which emerged in the 2000s, retrieved from http://www.businessballs.com/cybernetics.htm (under the 2nd sub-heading ‘the 1st law of cybernetics’) and http://www.businessballs.com/nudge-theory.htm.

13.  The applications of cybernetics in sociology can be found (besides others) in Geyer et al. (2001) and Zouwen (2001) and McClelland and Fararo (2006).

14.  Other applications of cybernetics in political science can be found in Deutsch (1966, more discussion on this is done by Langdon Winner, 1969, as a review article, retrieved from http://jstor.org/stable/41035143), Bryen (1971), Ghosal (1980), Corning (1996), Yolles (2003), Corning (2005, in Chapters 6 & 7 of Part I and Chapter 16 of Part IV – two special terms, viz., ‘Bioeconomics’ and ‘Thermoeconomics’ were introduced in this book), Morgan (2006, in Part II of the book, during discussion on some images or metaphors of organisations— in chapter 6 of that part, details on interest, conflict, and power of organizations as political systems are discussed), Espinosa and Leonard (2006), Cashore and Howlett (2007) and Rhodes and Hart (2014).

15.  Project Cybersyn was a Chilean project from 1971–1973 during the presidency of Salvador Allende aimed at constructing a distributed decision support system to aid in the management of the national economy. The project consisted of four modules: an economic simulator, custom software to check factory performance, an operations room, and a national network of telex machines that were linked to one mainframe computer. The principal architect of the system was British operations research scientist Anthony Stafford Beer (25 September 1926 – 23 August 2002, a consultant and professor, best known as management cybernetician) – retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn.
Other discussions on Project Cybersyn are also available in Medina (2006) and Medina (2011).

16.  As an interesting metaphor regarding importance of lever, similar assertion/ claim by Archimedes may be cited here from Tzetzes (12th Century A. D.) as
he [Archimedes] used to say, in the Doric speech of Syracuse: ‘Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world.’

17.  The Research Program, the Cybernetics Communication Listserve or CYBCOM, maintains a discussion list for over one hundred participants around the world. The topics being discussed are cybernetics and systems theory and their applications. CYBCOM Home Page is https://hermes.gwu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=CYBCOM and the e-mail ID is CYBCOM@HERMES.GWU.EDU. Web address of Cybernetics Discussion Group for November 2023 is https://hermes.gwu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind2311&L=CYBCOM.

18.  The recent online e-article Praveen (2014) may also be consulted, in this context.

19.  All the cited books in that paragraph are amongst ten authored or edited monographs of the series Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century which in turn edited by Hanspeter Kriesi, published by Palgrave Macmillan (a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited), U. K., during 2012 – 2016, with the forewords (retrieved from http://www.palgrave.com/in/series/14889) as
Democracy faces substantial challenges as we move into the 21st Century. The West faces malaise; multi-level governance structures pose democratic challenges; and the path of democratization rarely runs smoothly. This series examines democracy across the full range of these contemporary conditions. It publishes innovative research on established democracies, democratizing politics and democracy in multi-level governance structures. The series seeks to break down artificial divisions between different disciplines, by simultaneously drawing on political communication, comparative politics, international relations, political theory, and political economy.
An important characteristic of this series is that significant number of these monographs emphasized the role of mass media to boost up democracy in the 21st Century. Two relevant online-articles of the London School of Economics and Political Science, concerning Eurocrisis in the Press, Müller (2014a and 2014b) and Radice (2016) are also cited here.

20.  In this context, it is worthy of a mention that Yolles (2003) rightly opined, “Politics used power and power processes to shape structures, manipulate information, and influence the way that people behave. The concept of centripetal politics used by Ionescu in his discussion of the changes over the last century to society is applied to organisations and their political processes. The outcome suggests the possibility of a political map that has the potential to explain organizational behaviour.” – retrieved from http://emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/03684920310493242.
From https://movetoamend.org/toolkit/guide-power-mapping, about power mapping, we can know:
In order to effect social change, an advocate needs to be aware of the political and social power structures in play. A power map is a useful visual tool for figuring out who you need to influence, how to influence them, and who can do the influencing in order to reach a specific goal. This guide will help you create your own power map for your area.
Before you Power Map
Make sure you’re well versed in Move to Amend’s national strategy and familiar with the Pledge to Amend Campaign’s goals. Information about Pledge to Amend Campaign can be found here: https://movetoamend.org/pledge-amend
Steps to Power Mapping
1. Determine your Target
Which elected officials are you going to focus on? Who is the key decision maker here? Map around a person or institution who can solve a problem. For Pledge to Amend, it’s going to be an elected official.
2. Map Influence of your Target
Once you’ve identified who you want to target, you can start writing down people or institutions who you think might be able to influence him/her, and their other associations. An easy way to get started is to look at your elected official’s major donors. From there you can plot out influential constituents and other groups he/she may have interacted with.
Find out everything you can about your elected officials, including the committees they serve on, their past voting records, their individual ideologies, political connections, campaign contributors, which staff people they rely on the most, what their hobbies are, etc. Use these to connect them to other actors in the field.
Some other ideas for mapping your target:
  •  Past coworkers
  •  Family
  •  Major donors
  •  Voting record and committees your target works on
  •  Media outlets that favor your target
  •  Other personal relationships
You don’t want to rule out anything right off the bat. So even if you know you don’t want to approach a certain group your target is connected to, map it anyway. You never know where it might lead.
It’s also helpful to map out any organization (and people related to these organizations) that might work on this issue as well. For example, if your goal is to get better conditions for workers, it’s a good idea to put down labor unions, even if they’re not directly connected to your target.
Connect these in a visual map.
3. Determine Relational Power Lines
Many of the groups you map out will have connections to each other, not just to your elected official. You may notice that one group or actor connects to many other influencers; this is called a “node of power.” Even if a node of power doesn’t connect directly to your target, it may still be useful depending on who it’s connected to and how many connections it has.
4. Target Priority Relationships
Analyze the map. You want to focus on the actors with the most connections or that are most significant to your target. Highlight these nodes of power and start thinking of a strategy to approach them. It may be helpful to your strategizing process to grow your map by expanding on these nodes. Don’t worry if it gets a little messy!
5. Draw a grid to plot influence and helpfulness
To figure out which of your target’s influencers can be the most helpful, plot them on a grid like the one below: This is an easy way to assess who will be most supportive, and influential.
6. Make a Plan
Now that you have a map of your target’s relationships, you can move on to the rest of the strategizing process.
Note: ‘Move to Amend’ is an US forum of citizens and institutions/ organisations with a demand of amendment of American constitution to delimit the dominance of corporate world.

21.  The proposed model is not claimed as a novel one, rather attempts in this line to some extent are taken in different times and by different countries, e.g., chairmanship of Public Accounts Committee is offered to the leader of opposition party in India. Though ‘public interest litigation’ is introduced in our country with some flavor in this direction, it is not strictly application of cybernetic principles or processes or its variants (as any person even other than opposition member can initiate this lawsuit initially and directly to a court, an external agency).

22.  But C may issue ‘show cause’ notice for not timely providing information to M or for non-implementing earlier suggestions.

23.  Frequent non-implementing suggestions, irregularity of supplying information, ignoring/ delaying answer to ‘show cause’ notice may be considered as exceptional cases (except in case of military importance, of the state) too.
According to strict flow chart parlance, left-end corner of the diamond (i.e., the rhombus shape expressing conditional) in the chart should remain blank – therefore, another diamond can be used in the ‘Yes’ branch of the conditional C (hence renaming it, C_l), the second conditional may be named as C_u, C_l will then be lower level controller who will send the significantly negative deviation to higher level controller C_u, C_u in turn will ultimately judge negative deviation into low-high category and highly negative deviation should be referred to higher authority (preferably to an appropriate law court, as mentioned earlier). Hence, for other category of negative deviation suggestion for correction should be fed back to the system.

24.  The same condition is required for effectiveness of an ‘internal check system’ in management, more specifically, in accounting/ auditing. On the efficacy of internal check system, an auditor can take resort to test checking to some extent.

25.  Our Election Commission, for this reason perhaps, provides cost of election. If in the globalised and liberalized economic environment, education is considered as a tradable product by universities or professional institutes, why not politics be considered as a gainful and prestigious profession?

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