General Systems Theory: Its Present and Potential

In the first part of this paper, I present a brief overview of contemporary research addressing key questions about General Systems Theory (GST), such as what it is, what form it might take, whether developing it is a realistic prospect, how close we are to having it and what practical activities could help us develop it further. In the second part, I consider the early general systemists' ambition to leverage GST to build a ‘better world’, and address the question of what could be meant by this, from a systems perspective. I argue that GST should have a key role in working towards such a world.