SOVIET POLICY SCIENCES AND EARTH SYSTEM GOVERNMENTALITY

Eglė Rindzevičiūtė

doi:10.1017/s1479244318000161

Abstract

This article introduces non-Western policy sciences into the burgeoning field of the intellectual history of Earth system governmentality, a field that studies the ideas, institutions and material systems that enable action at the global scale. It outlines the rise of debates on the idea of the governability of the global biosphere in late Soviet Russia (1970s–1980s), focusing particularly on the extension of Vladimir Vernadskii's famous theory of the biosphere and its governance (the stage of the noosphere) into computer modeling and systems analysis. As a result, a new notion of governance as guidance through milieu arose to conceptualize global governance of the biosphere. This conceptual innovation was part of Soviet scientists’ attempt to liberalize the centrally commanded Soviet governmental system.

Highlights

Vernadskii’s legacy significantly shaped Soviet thought on global governance during the Cold War as his geophysical philosophy was extended beyond the natural sciences into the new field of decision and policy sciences, characterized by operations research (OR), economic and management cybernetics and systems analysis.[6]
While there is a growing Anglo-American historiography on the Soviet version of Cold War policy sciences, including their environmental applications, this is the first account of the rapprochement between Soviet policy sciences and Western Earth system governance.[7]
The empirical focus is on the prominent Soviet Russian scientist Nikita Moiseev (1917–2000), who transformed Vernadskii’s geophysical philosophy into an applied policy science, entrenched in the global concerns of the Cold War

Summary

Introduction

Vernadskii’s legacy significantly shaped Soviet thought on global governance during the Cold War as his geophysical philosophy was extended beyond the natural sciences into the new field of decision and policy sciences, characterized by operations research (OR), economic and management cybernetics and systems analysis.[6].

Results

Conclusion