Supporting Issues

Abstract

This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license. chapter 2 Supporting IssuesThe following peripheral issues help to deepen the understanding of the limited role that due process has played in EU competition law: (1) The growing importance of system thinking in social sciences; (2) The New Public Management movement; (3) The distinction between people, consumers and citizens; (4) The accession of the European Union to the echr and (5) The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Systems Theory and Social SciencesThere are two main frameworks to analyse the world or any subject: topical, focused on one part only, or holistic, focusing on the whole that is formed by interacting parts. The second approach can be dated back to Aristotle's claim that knowledge can only be derived from the understanding of the whole rather than its parts. It was, however, only in the 20th century that this adage broke free from the constraints of popular wisdom when systems theory began to be legitimized as an interdisciplinary tool for analysis. Although systems theory had been initially and predominantly used in cybernetics, chemistry and biology, it quickly rose to prominence within the analytical ranks of social scientists as well. Currently, systems theory provides one of the most potent tools for analysis in any field of study. Systems theory produces interesting findings when unmoored from its initial, classical science background. Katz and Kahn, for example, have successfully applied systems thinking to organizations, defined by them as open systems constantly re-defined by their interactions with the environment.1 This has resulted in management gurus and practitioners fully embracing systems theory. Luhmann brought the systems theory matrix of analysis to sociology, politics and law, providing one of the most extensive, complex and compelling theories of society.2 A system is defined as "a set of things -people, cells, molecules, whateverinterconnected in such a way that they produce their own pattern of behaviour