The Two Faces of American Power: Military and Political Communication during the Cuban Missile Crisis

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the Cuban Missile Crisis by applying a sociocybernetic model to explain the disconnect between political and military communications, highlighting the importance of subsystem differentiation during wartime.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of semi-dormant autopoiesis to explain the dynamic differentiation of political and military codes in crisis situations.

Findings

Communication mismatches led to dangerous incidents

Differentiation of military subsystem increased through learning processes

Sociocybernetic model explains crisis dynamics better than organization theory

Abstract

Purpose: The mismatches between political discourse and military momentum in the American handling of the Cuban missile crisis are explained by using the model of the potential autopoiesis of subsystems. Under wartime conditions, the codes of political and military communications can increasingly be differentiated. Design/methodology/approach: The model of a further differentiation between political and military power is developed on the basis of a detailed description of the Cuban missile crisis. We introduce the concept of a "semi-dormant autopoiesis" for the difference in the dynamics between peacetime and wartime conditions. Findings: Several dangerous incidents during the crisis can be explained by a sociocybernetic model focusing on communication and control, but not by using an organization-theoretical approach. The further differentiation of the military as a subsystem became possible in the course of the twentieth century because of ongoing learning processes about previous wars.