Internationalization of Cold War systems analysis

Abstract

This article has a dual purpose. First, it looks at the transfer of the methodology of systems analysis from the RAND Corporation to the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in the wake of an East–West bridge-building effort during the Cold War. Second, it draws out a more general argument about how the institutional structures of these research organizations condition their methodological orientations. Acknowledging the complexity of factors influencing methodological choices at RAND and IIASA, the article concentrates on the centrality of institutional purpose, institutional environments and internal organizational structure, and demonstrates how, when taken together, these factors led to a methodological diversification at IIASA that is best summarized as the internationalization of systems analysis.

Earth stewardship, water resilience, and ethics in the Anthropocene

“…Like objectivity, thinking in systems has a longer scientific and philosophical tenure (Midgley, 2003; Siskin, 2016). A key part of that story for Earth system sciences is how, at the IIASA, contemporary notions of ‘systems thinking’ incorporated cybernetics and ecology into a powerful framework for disclosing planetary phenomena (Duller, 2016; Rindzevičiūtė, 2016). It was the IIASA, for instance, that published the landmark work Sustainable Development of the Biosphere in which Crutzen and others outlined key concerns regarding human–Earth relations, and where Holling expanded ideas of ecological resilience through the notions of thresholds and tipping points (Clark & Munn, 1986).…”

The Problems of Modern Societies — Epistemic Design around 1970

“…IIASA researchers developed, for example, methodologies such as multi-objective decision-making, participatory methods, integrated modelling approaches and comparative case studies. In contrast to previous systems approaches they attempted to take the social, political and institutional aspects of systems analysis more seriously into account, for instance the plural rationalities of the various stakeholders affected by policy-making and transformation processes or the importance of previously neglected issues such as risk and uncertainty (Duller 2016). IIASA's lasting impact and legacy lies in the provision of a sometimes contested but often innovative environment for the collaborative coproduction of common problems.…”