ABSTRACT
Herbert Simon’s “Near Decomposability of Complex Systems” is the “invisible hand” of the 20th century. Together with economic competition, private property in the production system enables this near decomposability for the benefit of society. The production system thereby satisfies pragmatic compossibility. In terms of wealth and welfare, democracy and the competitive market system exceed any totalitarian system. However, democracies are slow in providing sufficient military defense effort to withstand aggressions by totalitarian regimes.
