I learned about Russian systems theory from my friend Boaz I. during my recent visit to Israel. He learned about it in classes in the top levels of the Israeli military.
The term ‘Russian systems theory’ is an ex post description. The actual Russian theory to which this label is applied is call Activity Theory.
Russian activity theory is based on a systemic analysis of ordinary peoples’ behavior. We recognize parts of this theory in terms of clothing and automobile signaling theory in which people use clues about other people to determine their interaction. We also have theories about facial expression, personal history and social status that parallel some elements of the Russian activity theory.
American systems theory has been largely focused on machine operations. That is where the whole notion of feedback comes from. American systems theory is also the source of thinking about communications theory that is heavily used in information sciences. It is also a primary source of game theory, which I heavily use because of its brilliant discovery of zero sum and positive sum games.
American systems theory and Russian systems theory converged in the late 1990s into a systemic structural activity theory. SSAT, as it is called. SSAT arose when theorists began trying to understand human interactions with computers.
The reason Russian systems theory came up in a conversation in Israel is because the Russian approach focuses on transmission of information up and down hierarchies. Such up and down information transmission can be designed to include creativity. Which my Israeli friend is interested in.
Those of us who did not go to college in the last decade are unlikely to know much about this subject.