Public Diplomacy, Global Communication and World Order: An Analysis Based on Theory of Living Systems

Abstract

This article analyses the dynamics of the world order, as well as the nature of public diplomacy conducted through both global and national media of communication, within a theoretical framework derived from the fundamental concepts associated with Eastern philosophy, world-systems analysis and the theory of living systems (encompassing the paradigms of cognition, autopoiesis and dissipative structures). First, it explains the clash of classical physics and new physics that has opened the door for new theoretical directions for the social sciences. Second, it explains the theory of living systems, which offers a paradigm shift for the social sciences. Third, it looks at the nature of public diplomacy and the methods used by competing elements in the centre-periphery structure of the world system to influence public opinion. Fourth, it concludes that because all living systems, including the world-system, are predominantly non-linear and thermodynamically far from equilibrium, the clash of antinomic ideologies will never cease. Moreover, because no observer can hope to accurately measure the initial conditions of the coherent superposition of public diplomacy, empirical science cannot predict the boomerang-and-bullet effects of public diplomacy.