In regulatory governance and regulatory practice, ‘risk’ is probably one of the topics most talked about and least understood. The notion of risk is like the notion of time or happiness: we all know perfectly well what it is, until we try to explain it to others (or to ourselves, for that matter). Risk is intangible. It becomes somewhat unreal when we try to discuss and unpack it.
To assist executives, managers and frontline workers in regulatory organisations and units who are interested in risk governance and risk-based regulation, the Chair in Regulatory Practice at the Victoria University of Wellington has carried out a systematic review of a broad range of international academic literature on the use of this approach to regulation.
The second State of the Art in Regulatory Governance Research Paper is an outcome of this review. It addresses five themes: (1) the evolution of thinking about risk, risk governance and risk-based regulation, (2) examples of risk governance and risk-based regulation, (3) evidence of the performance of risk governance and risk-based regulation, and (4) the epistemic challenges and (5) ethical challenges that come with this approach to regulatory governance and practice.sciences in regulatory practice.
The paper is available as open access publication:
van der Heijden, Jeroen (2019). Risk governance and risk-based regulation: A review of the international academic literature. State of the Art in Regulatory Governance Research Paper – 2019.02. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington/Government Regulatory Practice Initiative.
From the Regulatory Frontlines 