ABSTRACT
This chapter connects the theoretical framework of systems theory with the changing private forms of coercion enabled by technology. It argues that technology-enabled privatisation of coercion is challenging the state's monopoly on violence and thus creates a justificatory crisis for conflict management. Instead of territorial jurisdiction, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) derived its foundation from the principle of contractual freedom. Technological change creates a mass of cases, which are an ill fit for the legal system that operates primarily with the concept of nation-state-based jurisdiction. The challenges of privatisation through technology actualise in law's function of upholding expectations but, in addition, they extend further to the structures of law, to the idea of state sovereignty as the source of dispute resolution. Both interpretations, justification as a programme and as autopoiesis, locate justification within the legal system. The chapter concludes with a brief description of existing justificatory narratives.
