Brans M. & Rossbach S. (1997) The autopoiesis of administrative systems: Niklas Luhmann on public administration and public policy. Public Administration 75(3): 417–439. https://cepa.info/2994
This article offers an introduction to Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems as it pertains to public administration and policy, as a first step towards both a critique and its empirical application to empirical reality. It reconstructs Luhmann’s early writings on bureaucracy and policy-making and shows how this early, more empirical work grounded his abtract theory of social systems in general and the political system in particular. The article also introduces some central concepts of Luhmann’ s more recent work on the autopoietic nature of social systems and considers the latter’s consequences for bureaucratic adaptiveness and governmental steering in the welfare state. One of the main benefits of applying Luhmann’s theory to public administration, the article concludes, is that it conceptualizes the central concerns of public administration within a complex picture of society as a whole, in which both the agency that issues decisions and the realm affected by these decisions are included.
Buchinger E. (2007) Applying Luhmann to Conceptualize Public Governance of Autopoietic Organizations. Cybernetics & Human Knowing 14(2–3): 173–187.
The conceptualization of society and actors as an interrelated ensemble of autopoietic systems-as it is done in Luhmann’s theory of social systemsÍ-raises above all the question: How is it possible to govern operationally closed entities? Luhmann himself was a steering-pessimist. He devoted considerable effort to the explanation of the constraints of governance. But closer examination of the theory of social systems shows that it could be used as well to develop ideas about ‘how to govern. ’ The present text attempts to interpret the autopoietic self-steering approach against its original steering-pessimism-intention. Contrary to the argument that the autopoiesis approach contributes to the steering discussion in only a marginal way, it will be shown how the conceptualization of the governance of autopoietic systems is possible. This will be done by using the concepts of resonance, openess to the environment (Umweltoffenheit) and media of steering (Steuerungsmedien). The empirical relevance of this approach will be demonstrated by the example of public governance of organizational systems.
de Bruijn J. A. & ten Heuvelhof E. F. (1991) Policy instruments for steering autopoietic actors. In: in ’t Veld R. J., Schaap L., Termeer C. J. A. M. & Van Twist M. J. W. (eds.) Autopoiesis and configuration theory: New approaches to societal steering. Springer, Dordrecht: 161–170. https://cepa.info/7029
Excerpt: This chapter contains a review of the main themes in the literature on policy instruments. It is interesting to note that theories on policy instruments and strategies for using them are surprisingly underdeveloped areas in policy analysis. This seems to be particularly marked in the Anglo-Saxon tradition. The German and the Dutch traditions contain more relevant insights. The main explanation for this phenomenon may be that vital elements of the Dutch and German public administration system stem from a judicial tradition, suggesting a familiarity with the concept of the policy instrument. This situation implies that the concepts presented here will be derived from German-Dutch public administration. Special attention will be given to the problems which arise because of the autopoietic character of the target groups which are to be steered.
Edwards A. R. (1991) Communication and steering: What the science of public administration could learn from Habermas and Luhmann. In: in ’t Veld R. J., Schaap L., Termeer C. J. A. M. & Van Twist M. J. W. (eds.) Autopoiesis and configuration theory: New approaches to societal steering. Springer, Dordrecht: 183–192.
Gash H. (2020) Constructivism, Fast Thinking, Heuristics and Sustainable Development. Constructivist Foundations 16(1): 001–012. https://cepa.info/6799
Context: Radical constructivism prioritises the processes by which people make sense of their experience and people construct different worlds based on their individual experiences. Problem: It follows naturally from this that people may disagree about how they understand sustainability issues. Method: I consider a number of issues related to sustainability and examines processes by which they may have been constructed. Results: Examination of the processes of construction shows that shortcuts in thinking known as heuristics play a role in thinking about sustainability. Focusing on these shortcuts and the role they play in thinking offers a way to deconstruct thoughts produced in discussions. Implications: Understanding why people hold different views on sustainability makes it possible to open discussions on the viability of these views. The hope is that discussions about these issues in a context of mutual respect will facilitate an emerging consensus. Constructivist content: Radical constructivism has prioritised rational scientific processes in the emergence of an individual’s constructions of their reality. However, two aspects of this process constrain changes in cognitive constructions. First, individuals regularly construct thoughts that are based on heuristics rather than assessed on the basis of evidence. Second, ways an individual perceives peers’ constructions of their “realities” play a role in her identity and canalise how constructions change.
Hjorth A. & Wilensky U. (2014) Redesigning your city: A constructionist environment for urban planning education. Informatics in Education 13(2): 197–208. https://cepa.info/3664
In spite of decades of use of agent-based modelling in social policy research and in educational contexts, very little work has been done on combining the two. This paper accounts for a proof-of-concept single case-study conducted in a college-level Social Policy course, using agent-based modelling to teach students about the social and human aspects of urban planning and regional development. The study finds that an agent-based model helped a group of students think through a social policy design decision by acting as an object-to-think-with, and helped students better connect social policy outcomes with behaviours at the level of individual citizens. The study also suggests a set of new issues facing the design of Constructionist activities or environments for the social sciences.
in ’t Veld R. J. (1991) Autopoiesis, configuration and steering: Impossibility theorem or dynamic steering theory. In: in ’t Veld R. J., Schaap L., Termeer C. J. A. M. & Van Twist M. J. W. (eds.) Autopoiesis and configuration theory: New approaches to societal steering. Springer, Dordrecht: 3–18. https://cepa.info/7038
Klabbers J. H. G. (1991) Simulation: learning environments for (self)steering in social systems. In: in ‘t Veld R. J., Schaap L., Termeer C. J. A. M. & Van Twist M. J. W. (eds.) Autopoiesis and configuration theory: New approaches to societal steering. Springer, Dordrecht: 207–224. https://cepa.info/7078
Excerpt: In this chapter several related methodological issues for experimenting with notions of (self-)steering in social systems will be discussed. ‘Social system’ will be used as a generic term for various types of human organizations.
Koppen I. J. (1991) Environmental mediation: An example of applied autopoiesis. In: in ’t Veld R. J., Schaap L., Termeer C. J. A. M. & Van Twist M. J. W. (eds.) Autopoiesis and configuration theory: New approaches to societal steering. Springer, Dordrecht: 143–150.
Koppenjan J. F. M. & Hufen J. A. M. (1991) Autopoiesis, learning and governmental steering. In: in ’t Veld R. J., Schaap L., Termeer C. J. A. M. & Van Twist M. J. W. (eds.) Autopoiesis and configuration theory: New approaches to societal steering. Springer, Dordrecht: 171–182.