Environmentalmediation: An Example of Applied Autopoiesis?

The paradigm of environmental regulation has changed. From its inception in the late sixties until the beginning of the eighties, environmental policies were anchored in command-and-control regulation. The legalistic prerogative of unilaterally imposed rules dominated governmental steering in this area. A vast number of legal rules were adopted without questioning of their effectiveness in terms of pollution abatement. When government agencies, however, started to monitor the implementation of environmental programs and when the first policy effectiveness studies came out, the difference between law-in-books and law-in-action became apparent, and the shortcomings of the approach were recognized. It is not surprising therefore that during the eighties, environmental policy was characterized by a search for alternative modes of intervention. Two considerations have played a major role in reflections on environmental re-regulation: finding ways to make environmental policy instruments compatible with market forces and assuring social consensus about conflict situations prior to the legal implementation of policy decisions. In practice this has meant an increased use of economic incentives and the institutionalization of consultation and consensus building mechanisms in decision making processes.