ABSTRACT
It is now time to revisit the research question. In the first chapter I presented the research question, and a series of secondary questions that the book would grapple with in a preliminary manner. The importance of the preliminary questions lies in setting out the parameters and the necessary reference points without which the overall research question that has driven the research and the writing could not be addressed and answered. At its most basic level, the research question that drove this book was whether and to what extent the ‘ecosystem approach’ represents a paradigm shift. However, a set of preliminary questions were built at the onset into the main research question, and steered the development of the argument. For example: what is the ‘ecosystem approach’? Is there a uniform, universal concept of the ‘ecosystem approach’, or are there variations on a theme, perhaps due to the novelty of the concept, which inevitably leads to instabilities? Having now reached the concluding chapter of the book, what have we learned about the ‘ecosystem approach’? Is it a paradigm shift or does it stand in a relation of continuity with legal modernity? Before finally offering any answer, it is expedient to sum up the journey undertaken thus far.
