Tu Globalista: Lo que sucede en el mundo.

Saying that international law is a complex system is not a minor thing. In my point of view is to challenge the way we look at international law as a system. From a classical point of view, international law as a legal system is composed by different laws, treaties, principles, norms, the whole gamut of sources that we can find in international law, that is, the «written» sources. For many of us, that is a system.

To pose a new vision on international law being an ecosystem perhaps is stepping into sacred ground. But why could international law be understood as an ecosystem? What is an ecosystem? From my point of view, an ecosystem is just a composition of many systems, like a rainforest, which is clouded with minor mini-ecosystems. Those smaller systems are complex systems in their own right. Like a population of ants (a complex system) that interacts with other population of ants (another complex system) within a big tree, composed by different roots and branches (another complex system) which in turn, is neighbor to other trees, creating a series of coupling complex systems.

There is a sense of unity, however messy it could be. In that sense, international law functions like an ecosystem, which brings the view of a hierarchy. At the basic level is the individual, the individual under a complex system approach an individual is complex. And the series of interactions of individuals bring complex behavior, and new emergent phenomena, like the creation of states, international organizations, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, multi-national corporations, etc.

Such new emergent phenomena, that is, the state, is a system, a complex one, that interacts with other complex systems, name it, international organizations or states. Such series of interactions at the macro-level bring new phenomena, like the creation of a further system or systems, depending on the type of interaction, if its a legal interaction, then it will create an emergent type of phenomena, and it could be classified into international investment law, international human rights law, international criminal law, etc. Those type of complex systems become a type of niche, where a type of individual at the micro-level interacts, creating a series of complex behavior, for example, states interacted with each other on a legal basis by way of enacting laws that protect foreign investment, then created institutions for the protections of the said foreign investment, at the micro-level the persons under that system interacted creating and developing the rules of the game, which seem to be ever-changing. Such complex system of foreign investment law, the same can be said for international human rights law, and other areas that have the «international» name, each of the «international» areas are complex systems, that in conjunction create a complex whole the ecosystem of international law.

This view, is quite hierarchical, à la Kelsen, however, it brings further distinctions, the international norms is not at the top. What is of interest is the interaction of individuals, and the interaction of the institutions created by those individuals. How there is a type of behavior, and how there is constant change. How principles, laws, norms, are created and recreated with each interaction, even if that means clashes between systems, like for example international investment law and international human rights law.