Some Notes and Reflections about the Institutional Context to Study the Westphalian Dilemma

Abstract

The current society of global challenges and opportunities is projected as a dynamic reality that will bring even greater challenges, on the shoulders of information and communication technologies. The complexity involved has overflowed the traditional institutional framework – centered around the Westphalian state. Many strategies have been proposed and there is a growing supra-state institutionality. All this requires a deeper understanding so that humanity can better face global threats. The observation of nation-states is subject to the paradox of observing them diminished, on the one hand, while pointing them out as obstacles to coordinated global action. Institutions of an international or global character also endure the paradoxical gaze of wishing them to be more effective while fearing for their lack of democratic roots. These paradoxes are also dilemmas between trusting the politics to centralized global institutions or to nation-states. Proposing to examine the absorption of the complexity of the current world, in terms of Ashby's law, looking at the roles of institutions and organizational systems in times when networks make the edges of organizations less solid, in general, opens a vast field of study to look at the current way humanity is handling complexity and possible alternatives. This work, just the beginning of research on the subject that demands greater efforts and resources to achieve its purpose of influencing the formulation of policies, is a journey through institutional aspects that aims to contribute with further reflections beyond the institutions.