TIPPING THE BALANCE - AUTOPOIESIS AND GOVERNANCE

A modern society, according to autopoietic and other analyses, compris es social systems that show organizational closure and self-referentia lity, partly explaining widely perceived regulatory failure. This arti cle compares four possible mechanism for governance or steering of suc h systems, compatible with their autopoiesis: the use of subsidy, part nership with intermediary bodies, reflexive law, and a technique of go vernment intervention that is ancient and common but not recognized, h ere named collibration. Some social actors exist mainly to check and b alance other actors (e.g., employers' organizations and trade unions, or buyers and sellers in a market) and are self-referential only as a pair system This pair system is then self-policing but can be steered, within limits, by tipping the balance that is being maintained-as exe mplified by price-loading taxes, cooling-off periods, and sport handic apping.