To conclude this review of the literature on responsive regulation, I will zoom in on ethical and epistemic challenges. In other words, is it proper for governments to base their regulatory responses on the actions of their targets? Is this not violating the assumption that like-cases should be treated alike? To what extent (and how) … Continue reading Responsive Regulation (5): Ethical and epistemic challenges
Author: Jeroen van der Heijden
Responsive regulation (4): Evidence and findings
We now have a good understanding of the breadth and depth of responsive regulation. We have seen that the theory provides a broad set of heuristics and hands-on strategies to improve regulatory practice—and that it is about much more than the famous regulatory pyramid. We have also seen that responsive regulation is applied in a … Continue reading Responsive regulation (4): Evidence and findings
Responsive regulation (3): Examples
In the previous blog post on the evolution and success of the ideas underpinning Responsive Regulation, I have summed up responsive regulation as a set of heuristics and a set of strategies. Perhaps the best-known heuristic is the notion of escalation from less-intrusive to more-intrusive regulatory responses if non-compliance is found. Likewise, maybe the most … Continue reading Responsive regulation (3): Examples
Responsive regulation (2): Evolution and success
It is not easy to capture the essence of responsive regulation[i]: “Responsive regulation is not a clearly defined program or a set of prescriptions concerning the best way to regulate. (…) Responsiveness is rather an attitude that enables the blossoming of a wide variety of regulatory approaches [none of which are the] optimal or best … Continue reading Responsive regulation (2): Evolution and success
Responsive regulation (1): A review of the international academic literature
Previously, we have explored how insights from the behavioural sciences, insights from studies on risk, and ideas on systems thinking can help the development and practice of regulatory governance. Over the next weeks, we will look at one of the significant regulatory theories that have dominated discussions on good regulation since the 1990s: responsive regulation. … Continue reading Responsive regulation (1): A review of the international academic literature
Brief book review – Government and Markets: Toward a New Theory of Regulation
Edward J. Balleisen and David A. Moss (Eds), (paperback version: 2012), Cambridge University Press, 559 pages Government and Markets: Toward a New Theory of Regulation, edited by Professors Edward Balleisen (Duke University) and David Moss (Harvard Business School), brings together 16 essays on market regulation and the economics of regulation by leading regulatory scholars. The … Continue reading Brief book review – Government and Markets: Toward a New Theory of Regulation
Brief book review – Responsive Regulation: Transcending the Deregulation Debate.
Ian Ayres and John Braithwaite, (1992), Oxford University Press, 205 pages Published in 1992, Responsive Regulation: Transcending the Deregulation Debate has become a central work in the canon of regulatory scholarship. The book is a collaboration by Professors Ian Ayres (Yale University) and John Braithwaite (Australian National University) and builds on Braithwaite’s earlier studies on … Continue reading Brief book review – Responsive Regulation: Transcending the Deregulation Debate.
Systems thinking and regulatory governance: Now available as open access paper
Adopting a systemic perspective appears to offer a useful way think about regulatory challenges and problems. This may explain the increasing call for 'systems thinking' in regulatory reform. Systems thinking, systems science and systems theory are a broad class of theoretical and practical tools that aim to map, explore and interrogate the behaviour and outcomes … Continue reading Systems thinking and regulatory governance: Now available as open access paper
Systems thinking and regulatory governance (6): Suggestions for further reading
Serving the growth of interest in systems thinking in public policy, scholars from various fields have started to publish ‘popular science’ books and relatively ‘easy to read’ academic books. Many of these provide superb introductions to the various strains of systems thinking discussed in this research paper. The following foundational and applied books (in no … Continue reading Systems thinking and regulatory governance (6): Suggestions for further reading
Systems thinking and regulatory governance (5): Epistemic and ethical challenges
We have reached the end of this series of blog posts on systems thinking and its application in regulatory governance scholarship. If you are tuning in just now, then I strongly recommend reading the earlier posts first: a broad introduction to the series, an exploration of the history of systems thinking, examples of systems thinking … Continue reading Systems thinking and regulatory governance (5): Epistemic and ethical challenges