A Critique of Hierarchical Control of Political Regimes: Complexity and Topology

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.12804/desafios27.01.2015.04

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Published: Feb 9, 2015
Issue: Vol. 27 No. 1 (2015): (January-June)
Section General Section


Keywords: Human Social Systems control heterarchy the sciences of complexity

Main Article Content

Authors

Nathalie Mezza-García
Carlos Eduardo Maldonado

Abstract

Human Social Systems (HSS) are complex systems. One of the best ways to organize complex systems is by means of their self-organization, since the latter has proven to be an optimal producer of order in this type of systems, regardless of their nature: physical, biological or social. This concept emerged due to developments in the sciences of complexity, in which life has been understood as the most complex system that exists, and that does not require central or external control in order to produce organized patterns. Life’s order stems from the self-organization of its internal and external dynamics and interactions. This fact serves to question the use of centralized control mechanisms when organizing human social systems, and underwrites a critique of pyramidal structures and control hierarchies in classical political regimes from the standpoint of the sciences of complexity. The paper argues that human social systems are complex systems; hence, the best way of organizing them is by letting them self-organize, instead of imposingin a top-down manner, or from the outside - control by means of political regimes with hierarchical, pyramidal, or vertical structures. The paper explores this idea with a focus on political theory. 

How to Cite
Mezza-García, N., & Maldonado, C. E. (2015). A Critique of Hierarchical Control of Political Regimes: Complexity and Topology. Desafíos, 27(1), 121–158. https://doi.org/10.12804/desafios27.01.2015.04
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