Unilateral consensus: Legitimation as a societal phenomenon in Luhmannian systems theory

Richard Pretorius, Gunter Bombaerts, Madis Talmar and Bob Walrave

Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 2025, vol. 42, issue 2, 360-373

Abstract: For Niklas Luhmann, the political system's primary function is the establishment of decision premises for future decisions, with these decisions being applied across different societal subsystems. However, Luhmann recognized that this resulted in the political system running the risk of de‐differentiating itself when producing collectively binding decisions. Luhmann solved this problem by restricting the political system's role, relegating it to society's sidelines. But there are many examples of where we would want the benefits of collectively binding decisions in society, such as planning systems. This raises the question how can we have decisions that serve as premises for future decisions across societal subsystems while maintaining each system's differentiation and legitimacy? To answer this question, we will redouble our focus on meaning in considering each system's legitimation process. Through the lens of meaning, we will show how legitimation can bring independent systems to make shared decisions, thus producing unilateral consensus.

Date: 2025
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