Synergy, Cybernetics, and the Evolution of Politics: "THE EVOLUTION OF POLITICAL SYSTEMS
How does this theoretical framework relate specifically to the evolution of political systems? We begin with the perennial problem of defining politics. Charles Evans Hughes, a distinguished Chief Justice of the United States, was indiscreet enough in his pre-Supreme Court days to remark that 'The Constitution is what the judges say it is.' In like manner, or so it seems, politics is whatever political scientists, and political anthropologists, say it is. And, not surprisingly, there seem to be almost as many definitions of politics as there are theorists. The problem is that any given definition may rule in, or out, certain kinds of phenomena, or perhaps stress only one aspect of a multi-faceted class of phenomena.
Political Scientist Robert Dahl has written that a definition is in effect 'a proposed treaty governing the use of terms.' The treaty I advocate defines politics as isomorphic with social cybernetics: A political system is the cybernetic aspect, or 'sub-system' of any socially organized group or population. Politics in these terms is a social process involving efforts to create, or to acquire control over, a cybernetic sub-system, as well as the process of exercising control.
This definition is not original. The term 'cybernetics' can be traced to the Greek word kybernetes"
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