Control versus Complexity: Approaches to the Carbon Dioxide Problem at IIASA

Abstract

This articleexaminesthishistoricalcontext andcontrasts twocompeting paradigmsthat emergeda tI IASA in ordert oa ssessa nd respondt ot he carbon dioxideq uestion: The firsta pproachw as relatedt ot he organisation's research projectso nt he future of energy systems, whichd rewo np hysics,e ngineering,e conomics anda pplied system dynamical modeling;t he second approach drew earlierr esearchi ntoe cologicalm anagementa nd complexdynamical systemstheory, andarguedfor theuse of multiple methodstoassess thec arbond ioxide question.T he firsta pproachi nvoked ideaso ft echno-economical controlmechanisms, thesecondresultedinamore embedded framingofclimate change as oneo falarger complexo fi ssuesr elatingt os ustainable development.B ased on resourcesf romI IASA's research repositories andi nstitutional archive, this studyr etraces thesecompeting discourseframingsand outlines thespecificresearchand modeling strategies, policies,and cultural andtechnologicalimaginaries relatedtothem.

The Problems of Modern Societies — Epistemic Design around 1970

“…Egle Rindzevičiūtė has recently argued that the mobilisation of complex systems perspectives and the 'smuggling' of policy sciences developed at IIASA, entailing notions of uncertainty and limits to knowing, had a liberalising impact on Soviet governance in the sense that they challenged totalitarian notions of control (Rindzevičiūtė 2016: 206-209). In a similar vein we can describe how these joint research initiatives opened up an international space for the construction and governance of transboundary problems in Europe, or how particular problematisations and the enactment of more ambiguous epistemologies and proposed frameworks to think about sustainable future pathways of modern societies both confirmed and challenged values, epistemic ideologies and imaginations of modernity (Schrickel 2017). In that sense we can evaluate problem-oriented research and interdisciplinary thinking at IIASA and other places in terms of the questions and futures perspectives generated and the interventions and differences they made (Barry/ Born 2013).…”