All systems may share common features, but some of them may produce behavior that is considered unnatural or even problematic. This can happen when individual subsystems each have different goals. This is called policy resistance.

This is how it works:

If an actor within a system or any of its sub-systems gets an upper hand and uses it to shift the direction of the system, all the others will have to spend twice the effort to pull it back in line. The end result is a system that appears stuck, generating the same problems over and over again.

For example, drug pushers and users both want the supply of drugs to be high, but law-enforcement work towards the opposite. When the cops stop drugs from entering the country, prices on street rise. The result? Addicts commit more crime to pay the higher prices and suppliers invest in boats and planes that are equipped to evade the authorities.

To correct a system such as this, it is actually necessary to let go and turn the resources and energy available towards uniting the actors in the various subsystems. This way they can find a solution that works for everyone involved.

But there can be other problems in a system. For example, when it requires a resource that is commonly owned and unsustainable. The inevitable result is collapse.

If a parcel of land is used by different shepherds who keep adding animals to their respective herds, the pasture will then eventually degrade as the grass lacks the necessary time to regrow, the roots will lose their grip on the soil and rains will wash it away.

Why does this happen?

This because the feedback between the resource users and the resources either does not exist or is highly delayed. In order to avoid collapse it is necessary to educate users so they understand how their actions will affect the resource and how they can restore it by regulating use.