Disobedience as a mechanism of change

David Burth Kurka; Jeremy Pitt; Peter R. Lewis; Alina Patelli; Aniko Ekart

doi:10.1109/SASO.2018.00011

Disobedience as a mechanism of change

David Burth Kurka^*
, Jeremy Pitt
, Peter R. Lewis
, Alina Patelli
, Aniko Ekart

^*Corresponding author for this work

Imperial College London

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Conference publication

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Non-compliance is an expected outcome in norm-governed multi-agent systems, justifying the specification of monitoring, enforcement and sanctioning mechanisms. However, the simplistic assumption is that the violated norm is 'right' and the violating agent is 'wrong'. More complex situations involve selective common-sense non-application of a sanction (the principled violation of policy), situations where the norm is 'right' but those applying it are wrong, and situations where the norm itself is 'wrong'. In complex organisations, the iron law of oligarchy implies that these latter situations will arise and will need to be identified, but cannot be addressed by conventional sanctioning mechanisms that focus on individual violation with respect to supposedly infallible norms and/or norm enforcers. In this paper, we investigate the role of collective disobedience as a transformative mechanism for rule-or ruler-change, through the integration of the principled violation of policy, interactional justice and social learning. Our experiments provide evidence that the inclusion of formal mechanisms for pardoning and reformation enable agents to identify unfairness and displace an oligarchic clique through a process of revolution.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings - 12th IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems, SASO 2018
Publisher	IEEE
Pages	1-10
Number of pages	10
Volume	2018-September
ISBN (Electronic)	9781538651728
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/SASO.2018.00011
Publication status	Published - 15 Jan 2019
Event	12th IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems, SASO 2018 - Trento, Italy Duration: 3 Sept 2018 → 7 Sept 2018

Publication series

Name	2018 IEEE 12th International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems (SASO)
Publisher	IEEE
ISSN (Print)	1949-3673
ISSN (Electronic)	1949-3681

Conference

Conference	12th IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems, SASO 2018
Country/Territory	Italy
City	Trento
Period	3/09/18 → 7/09/18

Funding

DBK is supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Brazil. We also thank the reviewers for their helpful comments and constructive feedback.

Keywords

disobedience
dynamic equilibria
evolutionary systems
multi-agent systems
norm governed systems
self organization

Access to Document

10.1109/SASO.2018.00011

Cite this

Burth Kurka, D., Pitt, J., Lewis, P. R., Patelli, A., & Ekart, A. (2019). Disobedience as a mechanism of change. In Proceedings - 12th IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems, SASO 2018 (Vol. 2018-September, pp. 1-10). Article 8613714 ( 2018 IEEE 12th International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems (SASO)). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/SASO.2018.00011

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abstract = "Non-compliance is an expected outcome in norm-governed multi-agent systems, justifying the specification of monitoring, enforcement and sanctioning mechanisms. However, the simplistic assumption is that the violated norm is 'right' and the violating agent is 'wrong'. More complex situations involve selective common-sense non-application of a sanction (the principled violation of policy), situations where the norm is 'right' but those applying it are wrong, and situations where the norm itself is 'wrong'. In complex organisations, the iron law of oligarchy implies that these latter situations will arise and will need to be identified, but cannot be addressed by conventional sanctioning mechanisms that focus on individual violation with respect to supposedly infallible norms and/or norm enforcers. In this paper, we investigate the role of collective disobedience as a transformative mechanism for rule-or ruler-change, through the integration of the principled violation of policy, interactional justice and social learning. Our experiments provide evidence that the inclusion of formal mechanisms for pardoning and reformation enable agents to identify unfairness and displace an oligarchic clique through a process of revolution.",

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Burth Kurka, D, Pitt, J, Lewis, PR, Patelli, A & Ekart, A 2019, Disobedience as a mechanism of change. in Proceedings - 12th IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems, SASO 2018. vol. 2018-September, 8613714, 2018 IEEE 12th International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems (SASO), IEEE, pp. 1-10, 12th IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems, SASO 2018, Trento, Italy, 3/09/18. https://doi.org/10.1109/SASO.2018.00011

Disobedience as a mechanism of change. / Burth Kurka, David; Pitt, Jeremy; Lewis, Peter R. et al.
Proceedings - 12th IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems, SASO 2018. Vol. 2018-September IEEE, 2019. p. 1-10 8613714 ( 2018 IEEE 12th International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems (SASO)).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Conference publication

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Burth Kurka D, Pitt J, Lewis PR, Patelli A , Ekart A. Disobedience as a mechanism of change. In Proceedings - 12th IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems, SASO 2018. Vol. 2018-September. IEEE. 2019. p. 1-10. 8613714. ( 2018 IEEE 12th International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems (SASO)). doi: 10.1109/SASO.2018.00011

Disobedience as a mechanism of change

Abstract

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Keywords

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