From time to time: a systems-theoretical perspective on the twofold temporality of governing

Abstract

ABSTRACT The flourishing debate on the relationship between acceleration and governing is dominated by a view which identifies the increasing pace of the world as an exogenous reality of political decision-making. At the same time, interpretive perspectives have highlighted that governing is not only confronted with but actively involved in the construction of time. This paper argues that these two largely disconnected debates actually deal with two sides of the same coin. Building on a twofold theorization of time derived from Luhmannian systems theory, it is shown that the perceived speed of the world is contingent upon how governing relates to pasts and futures. More specifically, the paper discerns four temporal semantics of decision-making – planning, prevention, resilience and experimentation – and decodes how they establish more or less accelerated presents. The paper thus draws atheoretically and empirically more nuanced picture of the mutual constitution between time and (democratic) governing.