Published in 1992, the book Responsive Regulation: Transcending the Deregulation Debate has become a central work in the canon of regulatory scholarship. The book is a collaboration between Professors Ian Ayres (Yale University) and John Braithwaite (Australian National University), and builds on Braithwaite’s earlier studies on regulation, enforcement and compliance. Responsive regulation is probably best … Continue reading Responsive regulation in practice: Now available as open access paper
Category: Responsive regulation
Responsive Regulation (5): Ethical and epistemic challenges
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
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 – 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.
From the Regulatory Frontlines 