Swarm Theory and Politics

Opinion Forum ^ | October 7, 2010 | Dan Miller

[DanMiller]

Can analogies be drawn between insect swarms and human political activity?

Stink bugs have been swarming in Washington, D.C. where, unlike CongressCritters, “They really cause no harm … just a nuisance.” Fortunately, the Congress has adjourned.

The swarming addressed here can be more than just a nuisance. Sometimes the results can be seen as good or bad depending on what one wants. Swarming (as distinguished from smarming, a human social and political tactic) is a natural phenomenon permitting essentially brainless creatures — ants, bees, other insects and some fish — to thrive through apparently instinctive collective reactions to external stimuli. Maybe swarming also illuminates some species of political behavior.

[combat_boots]

The bees know.

[SandRat]

[OB1kNOb]

Congress has been infested with these for years........

[Rockingham]

The theory of swarm behavior is more developed than the article indicates. And the analogy is apt for American patriots of Tea Party persuasion. General Cornwallis famously described the attacks that the British under his command suffered in North Carolina as being like from a “veritable nest of hornets.”