THEORY OF THE SOCIO-CULTURAL SYSTEMS

AS FOUNDATION FOR POTENTIAL CONFLICTS ANALYSIS

Simferopol - 1989

This article is the brief presentation of the theory of socio-cultural systems. In this particular case, we make an accent on the aspect of applying the theory to analysis of potential conflicts. First of all, we wish to define more precisely the principal terms used further.

SOCIO-CULTURAL SYSTEM (SCS) - type of the socio-cultural formations dominating in a socio-cultural evolution. SCS-s include main part of the World’s population and inhabited territories. SCS-s are characterised by great sizes of their territories and considerable quantities of own population; they possess original standards of a space, society and state organisation as well as many unique qualities because of those they do differ drastically from the rest of the socio-cultural formations.

Unique characteristics of SCS-s are as follows: ability to expand own homeland at the expense of socio-cultural assimilation of a new territories; ability to generate complicated structure of own space, with internal buffer zones, in order to protect and defend itself from other SCS-s; complete cycle of the space socio-cultural assimilation which includes seven principal stages; domination of the inner logic over outer factors which are always used in a strict correspondence with the SCS’ evolution internal order; ability to create naturally dependent vassals in a course of socio-cultural transformation of other territories; own world religion, or its own unique version; ability to widen a circulation of own language outside own homeland, and first of all - in the internal buffer zone and among the naturally dependent vassals; reliability and self-sufficiency of own economy; ability to generate and invent stable original economic standards and forms which may have no analogues outside a specific SCS.

There are eight SCS-s, and in the process of their evolution, each of them goes through seven stages. With this, at every stage SCS-s acquire specific distinguished forms. Thus, there are 56 essentially different external forms of SCS-s to understand which we should base all the theoretical interpretations on a correct generalisation of a very high level.

INTERNAL BUFFER ZONE OF SCS - qualitatively original and distinctive socio-cultural part of the SCS’s space that is always located on the “outskirts” of the SCS’s homeland, along its borders with other socio-cultural formations. Internal buffer zone is destined mainly to protect homeland of a particular SCS from immediate contacts with alien SCS-s and their possible aggression. It may border with an external socio-cultural buffer zone as well as an internal buffer zone of a neighbouring SCS. Organisation of an internal buffer zone is characterised by many distinctive qualities determined by the specific evolutionary process of the SCS this particular buffer zone belongs to.

EXTERNAL SOCIO-CULTURAL BUFFER ZONE - type of the socio-cultural formations that evolves to separate two or more alien SCS-s. As a rule, external buffer zones border not immediately with the SCS-s, but with their internal buffer zones completely controlled by their own SCS-s. External buffer zone as a special socio-cultural formation is characterised by extreme instability and dependence on dynamics of those SCS-s it separates.

Classic examples of the external buffer zones as a special type of the socio-cultural formations that separate Western and Russian SCS-s are East-European buffer zone (Poland, Czech State, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria) and North-European buffer zone (Finland, Sweden, Norway).

SOCIO-CULTURAL DOMAIN (SCD) - type of the socio-cultural formations that is quite similar to socio-cultural system, but possesses a substantial quantity of principal distinctions. It’s characterised by stable and prolonged existence as well as specific economic, social and cultural forms. Fundamental differences compare to SCS are that SCD-s are categorically unable to assimilate and transform new territories into own homeland, expanding it with this, and create naturally dependent vassals: so, there is no systematic work with space as in case of a socio-cultural systems. The effect is a sort of socio-cultural conservation: SCD-s do not change / expand their own space and in general do not evolve in themselves during very prolonged periods; modern results of such phenomenon are quite modest sizes of their territories. Another essential SCD-s distinction from SCS-s manifests itself in their extraordinary situational behaviour.

At the present level of knowledge about socio-cultural formations and processes, there is no possibility to determine the reasons for emerging differences of socio-cultural systems and domains with respect to space, but it’s possible to describe all the details and components of these distinctions.

Examples are Japanese and Judaic SCD-s.

MIXED SOCIO-CULTURAL REGION - territory that has no distinct internal socio-cultural dominant and where various socio-cultural formations (SCS-s, SCD-s and buffer zones) co-exist. As a rule, these are regions of the young historical assimilation that, in some perspective, gain socio-cultural certainty, but with this may retain in their boundaries presence of a several socio-cultural formations. Most probable evolution of mixed socio-cultural regions is into naturally dependent vassals and external buffer zones, and as a more rare case - into part of the homeland of some SCS.

HOMELAND - the most profoundly transformed in a socio-cultural respect territory where representatives of a certain socio-cultural formation lived and / or still live during historically prolonged interval of time, absolutely securing this territory as their own. Homeland’s territory is always furiously protected and defended from any outside invasions. Representatives of the alien socio-cultural formations may be present there only for a brief time and with many a restrictions that especially concerns homelands of socio-cultural systems.

NATURALLY DEPENDENT VASSAL - relatively integral territory with own population that retains some unprincipal differences from the neighbouring, dominating over it SCS, but became this SCS’ inalienable part as a result of prolonged and systematic socio-cultural transformation. It is important that sizes of states - naturally dependent vassals may vary essentially: the point isn’t size in itself, but a special socio-cultural type of these formations. Naturally dependent vassals may possess a considerable amount of political and economic independence, have quite complicated, and at times conflicting, relationships with their dominants, being actually just a part of a dominating SCS.

ENCLAVE - territory of a historically temporary domination of a particular SCS within another socio-cultural formation. Genesis and evolution of enclaves are diverse and in many respects depend on specific characteristics of a particular SCS’ dynamics. As a rule, enclaves are generated during process of expanding areas controlled by one or another SCS. They carry out important socio-cultural tasks, but are not lasting as from historical point of view. Next in turn stage of the SCS evolution may become the reason for enclave’s degradation, even in the absence of an external pressure.

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To analyse potential conflicts, it’s extremely important to take into consideration typological and time –spatial characteristics of the socio-cultural formations’ nature that are described in detail in our articles (5, 6).

We suggest typological description of socio-cultural systems (SCS), socio-cultural domains (SCD), socio-cultural buffer zones, and mixed socio-cultural regions, according to the following plan:

SOCIO-CULTURAL SPACE: Relatively large areas of permanent inhabitancy; Homeland where significant quantities of its population live permanently; Ability to expand the homeland, through assimilation into it new territories; Ability to generate complicated internal structure of own socio-cultural space, as a response to demands from the outside (existence of an internal buffer zones); Ability to generate civilisations as a form of the own territory sporadic colonisation and assimilation, at the early stages of evolution; Ability to independently generate one or several stable states within own socio-cultural space; Concentration of the considerable reserves of vitally important natural resources within own socio-cultural space; Ability to generate ecological crises as a steps in assimilating own socio-cultural space.

SOCIO-CULTURAL TIME: Stable existence during historically considerable intervals of time; Complete cycle of the own socio-cultural space formation which includes series of successive stages determined by the inner logic of the space evolution.

CONTACTS WITH OUTER WORLD: Correlation of inner logic and outer factors. Ability to resist socio-cultural pressure from the outside; Ability to create socio-cultural enclaves to transform and assimilate alien territories; Ability to create socio-cultural enclave-communities; Ability to establish colonies, military-political and economic vassals outside own homeland; Ability to create naturally dependent vassals in a course of a socio-cultural transformation of other territories.

POPULATION: Existence of a relatively large quantities of own population; Ability to conduct a successive socio-cultural assimilation of alien population, by including it into own structure together with the new territories; Ability of population to retain its qualitative specific characteristics within alien socio-cultural formations; Extent of a socio-cultural homogeneity of the population; Ability to generate migrations of population for socio-cultural transformation of other territories; Ability to generate migrations of population to diffuse it into other socio-cultural formations, with no purpose of their transformation; Ability to maintain multinational structure of population, with various languages, within own socio-cultural formation.

RELIGION, LANGUAGE AND SPIRITUAL CULTURE: Own specific world religion, or its own unique version; Ability to propagate and diffuse own version of religion outside own socio-cultural formation for transformation of other territories; One or several dominant languages; Ability to widen circulation of the own dominant language(-s) as a daily used one(-s) outside own socio-cultural formation.

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