Feedback loops in a world of complexity: a cybernetic approach at the interface of foreign policy analysis and international relations theory
Feedback in foreign policy occurs when a state's foreign policy affects the international context of that state and those changes in context subsequently impact on the state's future foreign policy decisions. In this way, feedback loops can develop, which may become self reinforcing and in which foreign policy and international context continuously affect each other. Even though such processes are ubiquitous especially in a globalized world, they have hitherto received little systematic attention. We introduce cybernetics as a perspective that puts such feedback effects at the centre of attention and provides an accessible sequential framework for analysing them. Such a cybernetic analysis not only demonstrates the significance of feedback processes in foreign policies but also speaks to several recent debates in international relations theory and foreign policy analysis. In particular, it highlights processes of learning and change, of non linearity and indeterminacy, and enables the researcher to integrate insights from structure and agency based approaches. We outline the merits of a cybernetic analysis by discussing the effects of feedback in the United States' War on Terror.