Evolution of

Complex
Systems
Lecture 8: Politics and law

Peter Andras / Bruce Charlton

peter.andras@ncl.ac.uk
bruce.charlton@ncl.ac.uk
Objectives
 Society
 Self-model: political system
 Politics
 Self-model of politics: the legal
system
 The legal system
Human communications
 Specialized behavioural patterns:
human language
 Specialized brain sub-systems:
language understanding and
production
 Human languages
Society
 Many organisms act as
communication units
 Society = system of
communications between
organisms
 Human society = system of human
communications
 Human languages define human
societies
Politics – early times
 Tribes: everybody participates in
the decision making
 E.g., what to do (hunt, move, etc.),
how to interpret the environment
(flooding, attack by animals, etc.)
 Tribe leaders lead the decision
making process
Politics – advanced tribes
 E.g.,large migratory tribes (huns,
gepides, etc.)
 Fighters (action), priests/shamans
(perception) specialize in decision
making
Politics – early states
 Egypt, Greek city states, etc.
 Fighters, priests, administrators
 Administration: system of rules
about decision making (e.g.,
selection of the ruler)
Politics – early large states
 E.g.,Rome, China
 Large and stable
 Elaborated rules of politics
 Large administration
Politics – large integrated
states
 E.g., England – 17th-18th century,
Germany – 19th century, France – 17th-
18th century
 Complicated system of political decision
making
 Institutionalized and uniform legal
system
 Parliament, parties, public
administration
Politics – democratic
states
 E.g.,US, north-west Europe
 Parties, elections, rule of law
 Constitution, professional large
public administration
Politics – 1
 Description of the system of
human communications
 E.g., describes how to interpret
environmental events, how to act,
how to allocate resources
(communications) within the
society
Politics – 2
 Actions: what to do, how to
distribute human resources
 E.g., where to build what
Politics – 3
 Perception: collecting information
about what is happening in the
society / environment
 E.g., collecting and interpreting
information about the natural
resources
Political power
 Power: decide on actions and
perceptions
 Power: ability to determine what
should be referred to in the
context of communications about
resources
Communications in politics
–1
 Politician talk: subset of society
 Everybody participates
 E.g., voting in elections,
participation in political
organizations, meetings, etc.
Communications in politics
–2
 Specialistlanguage: sharper
communication rules
 The sentences should be relevant
from the point of view of power:
who does what – action &
perception / interpretation
Referencing in politics
 Politicalcommunications refer
mostly to other political
communications
 E.g., the voting communications
refers to earlier political
communications by party
representatives
The logic of power
 Communications in politics follow
the logic of power
 Does the communication lead to
more power, preservation of
power, avoiding the reduction of
power – in expectation
 Political communications –
communications that can be
understood in the context of logic
of power
Political system
 Allsocial communications
organized around the logic of
power
 Communications that follow the
referencing rules of politics,
referencing rules are determined
by the logic of power
 Communications about the society
and power: model of the society
The boundary of politics
 Dense communications /
referencing within politics / rare
referencing to non-political
communications
 The boundary is determined by the
logic of power, communications
are part of politics if they follow
the logic of power
Actions of politics
 Politicalcommunication patterns
that act upon the environment /
society
 E.g., set of political
communications leading to the
building of a highway
Perceptions of politics
 Changes in the political
communications with respect to
expectations
 E.g., local power talk leads to
changing voting behaviour in an
MP
Meaningful
communications
 Refers to other political
communications
 Provides reference for further
political communications
 Follows the rules of political
communications
Meaningless
communications
 Communications that do not lead
to continuations
 E.g., anarchist communications
Revolutions
 Communications about power but
do not follow the established
continuation rules of the actual
political system
 E.g., revolutionary politics in 1917
Extension and
reproduction
 Politicalcommunications are
generated to maintain/reproduce
and expand the political system
 The system boundaries are within
the society
 Overgrowing is bad
 The political system should fit the
society that is modelled by it
Over expansion of politics
 Ignoring the general
communication rules of the society
 Domination of the society
 E.g., communism, everything
becomes a political issue
Individuals and politics
 Everybody performs as communication
unit for the political system
 The political communications of
communications units may differ
significantly (e.g., cast or class system)
 There are some units which produce
large amount of communications that
are part of the political system 
politicians
The state
 The organizational context of the
political system
 Makes politics more structured
 Societies with elaborate states are
likely to be more complex
Professional politics
 Communication units specializing
in political communications
 They follow the fine details of the
political communication rules
 They generate the largest part of
the political system
 E.g., parties, Parliament
Political institutions
 Institutions: systematic rule sets
that channel political
communications and provide
meaning for them by making them
refer to the rules of the institution
 E.g., speech in the Parliament vs.
speech at home
 Political institutions compose the
state
Sub-systems of politics
 Specialist political communications
 They may form by the
establishment of corresponding
political institutions
 The same institutional framework
may lead to the formation of
several sub-systems
 E.g., parties, Parliament, elections
Parties
 Specialized political
communications about power in
some particular power paradigm
(i.e., particular set of
communication rules)
 E.g., socialist, liberal, conservative
 Parties develop together with
ideologies
Elections
 An institutional context for low
level political communications; add
content to simple communication
acts (i.e., voting)
 It is about choosing the best fitting
model of the society
Parliament
 Institutional framework for high level
political communications
 Parties are represented according to
election results
 The dominant party or coalition
represents the currently valid
interpretation of the society model by
making legislation about the society and
power distribution within the society
Laws
 Rules regulating the distribution of
power
 Refer to actions and perceptions of
the political system
 Laws are made in the Parliament
 E.g., laws regulating elections,
highway constructions, penal
procedures, etc.
Regulations
 Rules of power distribution in
various organizations (e.g.,
schools, companies)
 Refer to actions and perceptions of
the power system of the
organization
Legal communications
 Communications about the rules of
power distribution
 They are modelling the political
system
 Describe how the power
distribution / the political system
works
Examples
 Rightsof participation in politics
 Criminal justice
 Disputes between neighbours
Legal communications -
types
 Making the laws
 Interpreting the laws
 Applying the laws
 Complementing and modifying the
laws
The legal system
 Laws and communications about
and referring to laws
 Legal logic: legal or illegal
Legal system - language
 System language defined by the
applicability of the legal logic
 A communication is part of the
legal system if it can be assessed /
referred in legal / illegal terms
The boundary
 Dense communications /
references to other legal
communications
 Rare references to other
communications
 E.g., lawyers, judges discussing the
application and interpretation of
the law
Actions
 Legal communications that lead to
changes of the model of power
distribution; e.g., application of the law
that solves a previously unresolved
issue, new legislation
 They should fit the logic of legal / illegal
in the context of the existing legal
system, refer to other communications
(e.g., laws) and provide basis for new
communications
Perceptions
 Changes in the political system /
power distribution system lead to
changes in legal communications
 These changes may trigger
modified actions of the legal
system
 E.g., extension of voting rights
Meaningful
 Communications that fit the legal
system and contribute to further
extension of it
 E.g., good application of laws, rule
of law
Meaningless
 Communications that do not fit the
rules of the legal system
 E.g., revolutionary legislation
(confiscation of property), corrupt
judicial process
 Lead to the destruction of the legal
system
Individuals and the legal
system
 Everybody participates by having
legal communications
 E.g., buying a house
 There are specialist
communication units which do
legal communications
professionally, e.g., lawyers,
judges
The model of the state
 The state is the institutional
framework of politics (model of the
society)
 The state is described by the
constitution
 Constitutional law is the self-model
of the legal system: describes how
law making / changing happens
Summary – 1
 Political communications
 Logic of power
 Political system: model of the
society
 Political institutions
 Problems related to politics
Summary – 2
 Laws – Parliament
 Legal communications
 Legal system: model of the
political system
 Constitution
Q&A – 1
1. Is it true that everybody participates in
the political system ?
2. Is it true that the collection of census
data is an action of the political system ?
3. Is it true that a new higher education
policy is an action of the political system ?
4. Is it true that elections are meaningless
in a democratic political system ? What
about in a one-party system ?
Q&A – 2
5. Is it true that parties are professional
institutions in the political system ?
6. Is it true that political institutions add
implicit meaning to communications by
sharpening the continuation
distributions ?
7. Is it true that judges create actions of
the legal system ? Do they create also
perceptions of it ?