System behaviour of water and environmental law

Fülöp, Sándor (2024) System behaviour of water and environmental law. HIDROLÓGIAI KÖZLÖNY, 104 (EN_1). pp. 23-34. ISSN 0018-1323

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Abstract

A mechanikus dolgok sajátosságait megismerhetjük az elemeik részletes vizsgálatával, szisztematikus elemzéssel, lineáris logikával. A nagy, de szervezetlen tömegeket statisztikai módszerekkel kutatjuk. Van ugyanakkor a jelenségeknek egy nagy közbenső rétege, amit nehezen kiszámítható, nem-lineáris folyamatok jellemeznek. Ezeket legjobban a rendszertudományok segítségével értelmezhetjük. A rendszer megközelítés lehetővé teszi, hogy megoldjunk olyan komplex problémákat (wicked problems, perfect storms stb.), amik egyébként ellenállnak a hagyományos pozitivista siló-gondolkodásnak. Feltárjuk, hogy a rendszer elemei hogyan szerveződnek struktúrákba, milyen folyamatokat alakítanak ki és együtt hogyan hoznak létre olyan eredményeket, amikre külön-külön az elemeik képtelenek lennének. Rules and procedures of mechanical things might be revealed by a piece by piece, linear analysis, while large unorganised masses can be approached by means of statistics. However, there is a vast middle layer of entities with complex structure and hardly calculable non-linear procedures that offer themselves for system science. System thinking makes possible that we understand wicked problems, perfect storms and other similar phenomena that otherwise resist the old, positivist, silo-thinking. In these cases, we learn that elements of a system form structures, develop procedures through which they together produce such results that could have been unimaginable solely by the elements alone. Is it possible that with the help of system thinking we will be able to better grasp the essence of laws, moreover, we can design and implement laws with higher effectiveness? Is law a system? Or rather a complex tiered system of sub-systems, embedded into larger social-economic systems? In order to test these questions we analyse two intriguing sets of legal problems, to learn if we can describe and interpret them as systems that are – like systems generally – protecting their integrity with accommodation and resilience. The first example is the development of the segment of water laws that regulates drilling of small size wells for farms, where we see a 140 years process off gradual, more and more successful accommodation to the double social needs of protecting the interests of small farmers and sustainable development in respect to underground waters. This system resisted successfully an abrupt change that would have not fit to its goals. The second example is climate law as such – a relatively new development in the short history of modern environmental law, which can be hardly called a success story, because of the stiff resilience of the relevant branches of law. Indeed, resilience of law, as a complex, flexible and effective system does not always work according to our wishes.

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