Sergey Lebedenko

Social foundations of political systems

Politics and economics are related things. Over the past two hundred years, the world economy has been going through some qualitatively changes several times. Since the settlement of America and the formation of established government forms, the technological structure of society has changed six times, the economy has become globalized. Thus, a qualitative gap occurred between the economic and political methods of management and regulation. With globalization and fact-based events of technological processes, corporations have forced small and medium-sized manufacturers out of the market. By reducing the resource-based possibilities of control and lobbying, their active participation in the political life in other countries also declined. Globalization has expelled the regulatory role of the market as well — latent cartels and groups of global lobbyists, who own budgets comparable to those of many countries, have replaced that power.


There also are deeper and interrelated factors: ubiquitous individualism that arose in the first technological patterns, formed as a result of the need for individual competitive qualities of market relations, and the popularization of the opportunism development in society. These two factors affected the political systems of countries. The preservation of opportunistic principles in today's political and economic reality has led to the enrichment of the dodgiest society members through the impoverishment of the bulk of the world's inhabitants. This situation has caused social tensions in many countries. Discharges of tension, which we observe in different parts of the world, are not spontaneous, as it may be seen at first glance; they are provoked.


Further development in the situation are possible in different directions without changing the opportunistic principles of social behavior. Nevertheless, even in the most optimistic version, this is a confrontation of everyone against everyone in different variations of strategies and its outcomes, which worsen the quality of life of people. Stripped of fine words, hybrid wars of attrition await us. Actually, the lives of people are threatened with destruction due to the lack of constraints. 


The presence of the development of a society of opportunism in the economy, politics, social life at this stage means the desire for the dominance of one person, groups or clans, does not matter, but in a limited resource and society space will be implemented at the expense of other members of society. Another variant has not been given yet. Opportunism is finite by its nature within limited resources and spaces. 


Political and economic populism are derivatives of opportunism. Opportunism of various clans, e.g. communist, social-democratic, during the third technological order of the last century in the conditions of distributed space and basic resources at that time has already posed a threat to the world, resulting in two world wars that led to terrible consequences.


Because of the events, the post-war transformation of opportunistic principles of behavior towards the Pareto-efficient ones made it possible to enter without any pain into the peaceful phase of the democracy development across the planet, to allow humanity to pass through the fourth, fifth, go to the sixth technological structure and globalization of the economy. The foundations of the principles of collective security, the prospects for universal development have entered into the picture. People felt free, the era of mass travels and simple human contacts around the planet began. 


Unfortunately, those who still remembered the consequences of opportunist concentrations of power and resources in one hand had crossed the Great Divide. Subsequent generations do not retain that experience at the genetic level. The chain of subsequent events that occurred, which under wraps of tolerance and liberalism, population brainwashing, jump-started the opportunistic principles of behavior to all spheres of human life. Now it is not difficult to guess to whom it was profitable looking at the distributed resources and the received benefits.
Ordinary people, being obvious beneficiaries of Pareto efficiency, but carriers of mass consciousness, which is syncretic, contradictory, emotional and superficial, are not able to come to a common understanding and accepting of the social reality. For this reason, nations are not able to implement more progressive social principles. Principles of Pareto efficiency may be implemented into society by a strong individual or organization having the appropriate resources, able to form goals and ways to achieve and implement the intended.
Nevertheless, the motivation for implementation will be more likely to appear, if individual or organization have specific benefit. Such an “opportunistic” paradox.


The existing “window of opportunity” for introducing social Pareto efficiency is more situational than consciously necessary in the absence of extreme situations.
The presence of extreme social situations (reinforcing the contradictions of opportunism) confirmed by history indicates the conscious implementation of the Pareto-efficient principles of building societies: immigrants with a lack of resources, in the post-war world order.
Thus, due to the accumulated contradictions, there is an objective reality and a “window of opportunity” for the transition to Pareto-efficient principles of development of societies without factors of extreme environmental situations at this moment.

 

Date: 16 September 2020

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