The Importance Of Systems Theory

Political analysts attempt to provide an understanding of the workings of the modern state had necessitated the employment of certain philosophies, thoughts and theories in order to simplify and clarify their assumptions about the political system and how it works. Some of these analytical tools or methods include – the Systems theory, Group theory, Political Development theory, Power theory, Frustration Aggression theory and the Elites theory among others. Given these plethora of theories in the social sciences and bearing in mind that, no meaningful research can be undertaken in the absence of a sound theoretical base, this study adopts the Systems theory in order to explain the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the United

Studies of cognitive development and human perception are beginning to rely more and more on the systems approach. Systems theory does much to render the complex dynamics of human bio-psycho-socio-cultural change comprehensible. According to them, observed phenomena in the natural and human-made universe do not come in neat disciplinary packages labeled scientific, humanistic, and transcendental. That is, they invariably involve complex combinations of fields, and the multifaceted situations to which they give rise require a holistic approach for their solution. Systems theory provides such an approach and can consequently be considered a field of inquiry rather than a collection of specific disciplines (Laszlo & Krippner,

A Systems theory is hence a theoretical perspective that analyzes a phenomenon seen as a whole and not as simply the sum of elementary parts. The focus is on the interactions and on the relationships between parts in order to understand an entity’s organization, functioning and outcomes. This perspective implies a dialogue between holism and reductionism (Mele, Pels, & Polese, 2009). Systems theory is an interdisciplinary theory about every system in nature, in society and in many scientific domains as well as a framework with which we can investigate phenomena from a holistic approach (Capra, 1997). Systems thinking come from the shift in attention from the part to the whole, considering the observed reality as an integrated and interacting unicuum of phenomena where the individual properties of the single parts become indistinct (Checkland, 1997; Jackson, 2003). In contrast, the relationships between the parts themselves and the events they produce through their interaction become much more important, with the result that system elements are rationally connected towards a shared purpose (Luhmann, 1990; Golinelli, 2009). The systemic perspective argues that, we are not able to fully comprehend a phenomenon simply by breaking it