Law of Complex Earth and Outer Space Systems

Elena Cirkovic is a researcher in the Department of Law at Aarhus University, Denmark.

“In this encyclopaedic work, Dr Elena Cirkovic makes the important argument that complex systems have a decisively significant dimension of indeterminacy - a fundamental unknowability. This indeterminacy problematises overarching approaches that claim to solve modern law’s anthropocentrism (including rights of nature, ‘stewardship’ or Earth System governance approaches), unless and until such approaches reckon adequately with the unknown and unpredictable. For Dr Cirkovic, this indeterminacy leads to the need to focus on precaution and long-term justice. It demands, in short, epistemic humility in the face of complexity as a vital part of future-facing justice-making.” Anna Grear, Cardiff University, UK“In this book, Dr. Elena Cirkovic offers a radical reimagining of the law as a complex system. Cirkovic’s work is a masterful example of interdisciplinarity and the strength of the approach in understanding complex phenomena like law rather than the simplification offered by more mainstream western legal theory. Despite the mobilisation of complexity, Cirkovic manages to make her novel approach accessible and easy to understand to people interested in law and socio-ecological issues from all disciplines and from outside the halls of academia, demonstrating that intricate theoretical frameworks can be made accessible without sacrificing depth.” Pierre Cloutier de Repentigny, Department of Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University, Canada

• 1. Introducing complex Earth-outer space challenges 2. Critical more-than-planetary boundaries: Cryosphere, atmosphere, and outer space 3. Complex systems and Earth-outer space anthropogenic activities 4. Beyond the human 5. Imagining precautionary principle in Earth-outer space complex systems 6. Conclusion