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01 February 2024
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02 February 2024
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“To those who feel that global modeling is dead, or at least fading fast, I would like to report that global modeling is alive and doing relatively well at the Science Center in West Berlin, and in the next few pages I would like to document this bill of health.”1
“I was gratified that no one in the audience proposed that IIASA develop a global model of this type. Indeed, I did not hear anyone indicate the intention to begin new development on yet another such model. I think that is an important unstated conclusion of this conference. Perhaps it demonstrates the awareness among this group that the flurry of initial activity,the sunrise or the comet shooting across the horizonand the blaze of publicity are dying down.”7
1 | Stuart Bremer, “Global Modeling Activities at the Science Center Berlin”, Environmental Aspects In Global Modeling, 1982, p. 287. |
2 | Donella Meadows et al., The Limits to Growth, 1972. |
3 | A 1981 conference report in Futures counts less than 20 world models. For the history of these modeling efforts see, Elodie V. Blanchard, “Modelling the Future”, Centaurus, 52, 2010; Helga Nowotny, Vergangene Zukunft, Impulse geben – Wissen stiften, 2002; Elke Seefried, Zukünfte, 2015; Elke Seefried, “Globalized Science”, Centaurus, 59, 2017; Egle Rindzeviciute/ Jenny Andersson (Hrsg.), The Struggle for the Long-Term in Transnational Science and Politics, 2015; Egle Rindzeviciute, The Power of Systems, 2016; Jenny Andersson, “Planning the Future of World Markets”, Planning in Cold War Europe, 2021; dies., “The Great Future Debate and the Struggle for the World, The American Historical Review, 117/5, 2012. |
4 | Rindzeviciute, 2016, pp. 54-58. |
5 | Concerning the founding process of IIASA, Leena Riska-Campbell, Bridging East and West, 2011; Roger Levien, “Applying System Analysis in an International Setting”, Behavioral Science, 24/3, 1979. |
6 | IIASA's task with regard to multi-sectoral world modeling was usually described by members of the institute as a "monitoring role". Concerns about excessive use of research resources for an IIASA world model were joined by rejection of National Member Organizations and fears that IIASA could be confused with The Club of Rome. Rindzeviciute, 2016 pp. 129-149. |
7 | IIASA Archives, DI General Research. Global Modeling Review Conf/Work. Sixth Symposium. Memo Gerhart Bruckmann to Roger Levien concerning “final statement“ 17.05.1979. |
8 | Meadows et al. Groping in the Dark, 1982. |
9 | As (a.o.) Matthias Schmelzer points out, the first report to The Club of Rome had little lasting influence on concrete policies, despite its close links to the OECD. Schmelzer, "Born in the Corridors of the OECD, Journal of Global History, 12, 2017. |
10 | On the modeling of technological progress compared to later Integrated Assessment Models, see Christophe Cassen/ Beatrice Cointe, "From The Limits to Growth to Greenhouse Gas Emissions Pathways", Contemporary European History, 31, 2022; For a wide range of criticism of the first world model, see e.g. Blanchard, 2010. |
11 | Meadows et al. 1982, S. 268. Original: “Third, I am, to some extent, astonished that so many of you skirt the essentially social, economic, and political nature of your work, of your results, and of the impact that it has on the social and political world around you. True, each of you is fully aware of this. Nevertheless, I find it amazing that so eminently political an activity can be discussed in such generally unpolitical terms.” |
12 | Marie Jahoda, “Postscript on Social Change”, Models of Doom, 1973, p. 209. |
13 | WZB Archives, Brochure “Das GLOBUS-Weltmodell – ein politisch-ökonomisches Computer-Simulationsmodell“. |
14 | A second "theoretical world model" developed at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin was developed under the title EARTH (Evaluating Alternative Realpolitik Theses) and published in Thomas Cusack/Richard Stoll, Exploring Realpolitik, 1990. As far as we know at present, there is no historical research on either model. |
15 | Compared to 150 equations used in WORLD3. P.J. Vermeulen/D.C.J. de Jongh “Dynamics of Growth in a Finite World”, IFAC Proceedings, 9/3, 1976. |
16 | Stuart Bremer, “Modelling the Political Globe”, Intermedia, 12/4-5, 1984a, p. 46. |
17 | From a methodological point of view, Jay Forrester's work on system dynamics was probably not a significant source of inspiration for GLOBUS, as it was only inadequately suited to the simulation of rarely occurring events such as revolutions or wars. Stuart Bremer, "The GLOBUS Model", IIVG Papers, 1984b, p. 7. |
18 | Richard W. Chadwick, “Global Modeling“, Simulation & Gaming, 31/1, 2000; on Richardson: Paul Edwards, A Vast Machine, 2010, S. 93-96. |
19 | Paul Erickson et al., How Reason Almost Lost Ist Mind, 2013 p. 148; Chadwick, 2000. |
20 | James N. Rosenau (ed.), In Search of Global Patterns, 1976. |
21 | Harold Guetzkow, “A Use of Simulation In The Study Of Inter-Nation Relations”, Behavioral Science, 4, 1959; Guetzkow, “Sizing up a Study in Simulated International Processes”, In Search for Global Patterns, 1976; Stuart Bremer, Simulated Worlds, 1977, p. 12-21; Chadwick, 2000. |
22 | Michael D. Ward, "Harold Guetzkow 1915-2008", ASA Footnotes, 37/1, 2009; Guetzkow himself described Simon's studies on decision making as a "deeper source for this work". Guetzkow, 1959, p. 184. |
23 | Some of the further developments of the simulation ran under a different title. For reasons of clarity, only "INS" is used here. Relevant adaptations include Paul Smoker's IPS (International Process Simulation) and Clark Abt's TEMPER (Technological, Economic, Military, Political, Evaluation Routine). |
24 | Bremer, 1977, pp. 5-6. |
25 | Bremer, 1984a, pp. 5-6. |
26 | Karl W. Deutsch, “On Inequality and Limited Growth”, International Studies Quarterly, 19/4, 1975. |
27 | Deutsch, "Foreword", The Globus Model, 1987, p. xiv. Deutsch's continued employment at Harvard, Ma. and the "part-time position" at the WZB suggest that Deutsch later probably served more as a supporter to the project than as an active contributor to its content. |
28 | WZB Archives, presentation to the 7th meeting of the WZB Board of Trustees on December 12, 1977. |
29 | Andreas Knie / Dagmar Simon, „Geschichte der Soziologie am Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin“, Handbuch Geschichte der deutschsprachigen Soziologie. Band 1, 2017. |
30 | WZB Archive, Globus FOGRP, Letter from Daniel Frei to Karl W. Deutsch, 10.07.1985 |
31 | Chadwick, 2000, p. 63. |
32 | WZB Archives, Evaluation Report 1976-1978. |
33 | Mihajlo D. Mesarovic/Eduard Pestel, Menschheit am Wendepunkt, 1977; Gilberto C. Gallopin, “The Latin America World Model (a.k.a. the Bariloche Model)”, Futures, 33/1, 2001. |
34 | For WORLD3, Stuart Bremer showed that by introducing the variable of technological progress and changing the initial condition, the catastrophe depicted in The Limits could be prevented. See: Stuart Bremer, "Technological Progress and the Limits to Growth", Weltmodellstudien, 1980. |
35 | Wolf-Dieter Eberwein, „Zum Nutzen von Weltmodellen“, IIVG Papers, 1983, p. 13. |
36 | Deutsch, Nationalism and Social Communication, 1953. |
37 | Deutsch, 1987. |
38 | This is in contrast to Herbert Simon, for example, for whose cybernetic social science mathematics was a central element. On the different cybernetic approaches of the two, see: Ronald Kline, "How disunity matters to the history of cybernetics in the human sciences in the United States", History of the Human Sciences, 33/1, 2020. On Deutsch’s stance towards quantitative research, see Jan Ruzicka, “A Fetish for Measurement?”, International Relations, 28/3, 2014. |
39 | Deutsch, 1987, p. vii. |
40 | Deutsch, “Über Weltmodellarbeiten im internationalen Institut für vergleichende Gesellschaftsforschung am Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin“, Jahrbuch 1978 der Berliner Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft e.V., 1979, p. 130 [transl. M.R.] |
41 | Karl W. Deutsch/Bruno Fritsch, Zur Theorie der Vereinfachung, 1980, p. 53; critique by Niklas Luhmann, “Review: “Zur Theorie der Vereinfachung“, Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 33/2, 1981. |
42 | Deutsch, Toward an Interdisciplinary Model of World Stability and Change, Journal of Peace Science, 2/1, 1976, p. 6. |
43 | Ibid. |
44 | Deutsch, 1987, p. ix. Deutsch thus positioned himself in the debate on methodology in world modeling against voices such as Jay Forrester's, who classified the importance of data for large-scale, system-dynamic models as secondary. |
45 | Meadows et al., 1982; Blanchard, 2010. |
46 | A further important data-gathering source for the GLOBUS project was the euphemistically termed ‘guesstimation’ practice. |
47 | John L. Gaddis, “International Relations Theory and the End of the Cold War”, International Security, 17/3, 1992. |
48 | Sabina Leonelli/ Niccolò Tempini (eds.), Data Jourrneys in the Sciences, 2020. |
49 | Azar, 1980, p. 146. |
50 | Walter Gruhn, “Appendix I. The Globus Simulation Package”, The Globus Model, p. 777-779. |
51 | Oral History Interview with GLOBUS mathematician Peter Rindfuß (2023). |
52 | Sources from the WZB archive suggest that the journey of the data did not end here, but that it was later used for another research project on the ASEAN states. WZB Archive Globus FOGRP, letter from Werner Pfenning to Princess Konstanza zu Löwenstein, 1987. |
53 | Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, GDR, France, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Venezuela, U.S.A., U.S.S.R. |
54 | During the creation of GLOBUS, one employee was usually entrusted with working on each of the sub-modules, so that GLOBUS was sometimes also referred to as a "model family". |
55 | Dale Smith, “International Political Processes“, The Globus Model, 1987. |
56 | Smith, 1987, S. 660. |
57 | Plenarprotokoll 10/130 Deutscher Bundestag Stenographischer Bericht 130. Sitzung Bonn, Freitag, den 29. März 1985. [transl. M.R.] |
58 | WZB Archive, Bericht des Evaluationskomitees vom März 1985. The Committee was comprised of prominent figures in future studies like Carlos A. Mallman, Harold Guetzkow, Gerhart Bruckmann or Jan Tinbergen. |
59 | WZB Archives, FOGRP 1: Tischvorlage zur Sitzung des Wissenschaftlichen Rats am 7. Juni 1988. |
60 | WZB Archives, Dokumentation GLOBUS, Gesprächsnotizen, 29.03.1984. |
61 | Smith, 1987, p. 643-666. |
62 | It should be mentioned here that the only indicator of global technological progress used was that of the USA as the "most advanced nation", from which all other countries would benefit. |
63 | The suggestion made to the WZB in 1984 that the effects of German reunification should be simulated was rejected with reference to the political explosiveness of the topic and the inability of the model to depict structural changes. WZB Archive, address mailings GLOBUS to 88, letter from Stuart Bremer to Meinolf Dierkes, December 11, 1985. |
64 | Stuart Bremer/Barry Hughes, “Disarmament and Development”, International Political Science Review, 11/2, 1990, p. 203. |
65 | WZB Archives, FOGRP 1. Tischvorlage zur Sitzung des Wissenschaftlichen Rats am 7. Juni 1988. [transl. M.R.] |
66 | Bremer, “Evaluating GLOBUS“, The Globus Model, 1987. |
67 | For a further critique on the usefulness of behaviorist IR models, see Gaddis, 1992. |
68 | WZB Archives, MICRO GLOBUS Adress Lists, Stuart Bremer to Walter Rohn, 07.08.1986. |
69 | There were also plans to extend the model to 50 nations (interview with Peter Rindfuß), an online version and the creation of an "I[NTERACTIVE] GLOBUS", which would allow interventions in ongoing simulations and clarify the simulation character. (WZB Archives, MICRO GLOBUS Address Lists, Stuart Bremer to Walter Rohn, 07.08.1986. |
70 | Ekkart Zimmermann, “Review: The Globus Model”, Politische Viertelsjahresschrift, 31/4, 1990, p. 710. [transl. M.R.] |
71 | WZB Archive, Globus FOGRP. Tischvorlage zur Sitzung des Wissenschaftlichen Rats am 7. Juni 1988. |
72 | WZB Archiv, Globus FOGRP, MICRO GLOBUS Information. |
73 | Gruhn 1987, p. 795. |
74 | David Kuchenbuch, “Ökolopoly Spielen, Wissen und Politik um 1980“, Nach Feierabend, 11, 2016; on Strategem 2, see Rindzeviciute, 2016, p. 118-120. |
75 | WZB Archives, Aussendungen GLOBUS bis 88. |
76 | Volker Roelcke, “Auf der Suche nach der Politik in der Wissensproduktion“, Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte, 33/2, p. 186. |
77 | The International Futures Simulation is free to use via the center’s website. https://www.ifs.du.edu/ifs/frm_MainMenu.aspx [accessed: 30.11.2023]. |
78 | Barry Hughes,”In Memoriam: Stuart Bremer“, Political Science and Politics, 36/2, 2003; https://correlatesofwar.org/ [accessed: 10.12.2023] |
79 | WZB Archiv, “Die Zukunft aus dem Rechner“, Zitty, 21, 1985. [transl. M.R.] |
80 | In addition to the publication mentioned above, there were around 10 radio and newspaper reports on GLOBUS in the German media between 1984 and 1987. The model was also featured in the 1987 exhibition "Berlin, Berlin" at the Martin-Gropius Bau on the occasion of the city's 750th anniversary celebrations, see Berliner Festspiele GmBH, Berlin, Berlin, 1987, p. 629. |
81 | WZB Archiv, “Berliner Wissenschaftler stellen ein neues Weltmodell vor“, Bild der Wissenschaft, 7, 1985. |
82 | Ariane Leendertz, “Das Komplexitätssyndrom“, Die neue Wirklichkeit, 2016. |
83 | Eva Emenlauer-Blömers et al., “Mit Globus die Welt im Griff“, Wechselwirkung, 12/44, 1990. On the journal’s role in the field of critical science and technology studies in Germany, see Nils Güttler/Margarete Pratschke/Max Stadler, “Before Critique Ran our of Steam”, Nach Feierabend, 11, 2016. |
84 | Paul Edwards, „Global Comprehensive Models in Politics and Policymaking, Climate Change, 32, 1996. |
85 | Paul Neurath in Meadows et al., 1982, p. 286. |
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