Regulatory Governance in Public Policy

Regulatory governance encompasses the institutional frameworks, processes and mechanisms through which governments design, implement and oversee rules that shape public and private behaviour. Over recent decades, many jurisdictions have shifted from traditional command‐and‐control regulation towards a more diverse toolkit that includes market‐based instruments, co-regulation and performance‐based standards. Central to this transition has been the rise of independent regulatory agencies, entrusted with technical expertise and insulated from short-term political pressures. Key principles such as autonomy, transparency and accountability underpin effective regulatory governance and help to balance competing societal objectives: ensuring fair competition, protecting consumers and the environment, and fostering innovation. Judicial review and stakeholder engagement further reinforce legitimacy by subjecting regulatory decisions to external scrutiny. As regulatory regimes have matured, scholars have examined variations in institutional design across sectors and regions, from utilities and telecommunications to financial services and environmental policy. Emerging trends include the re-politicisation of economic governance, digitalisation of regulatory monitoring and the challenges of regulatory capture. A global perspective reveals both the diffusion of best practices and the persistence of domestic constraints, highlighting the need for adaptive governance capable of responding to evolving risks and societal demands.

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Regulatory Governance in Public Policy publication trend

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Technical terms

Regulatory governance: The framework of institutions and processes that guide rule-making, implementation and oversight in public policy.

Independent regulatory agency: A publicly established body with statutory authority to oversee specific sectors, endowed with autonomy from direct political control.

Regulatory capture: A condition in which regulatory bodies become dominated by the interests they are meant to regulate, undermining impartiality.

Transparency: The principle that regulatory processes and decisions are open, accessible and understandable to stakeholders and the public.

Accountability: The obligation of regulatory bodies to justify and be held responsible for their actions and decisions by courts, legislatures or citizens.

Interventionism: The renewed use of direct governmental control and oversight in sectors that had previously been liberalised.

References

1. Assessing regulatory governance for the water and sanitation Agencies in Brazil. Utilities Policy (2024).
2. New interventionism: the re-politicisation of electricity governance with renewable energy policies in the UK, Mexico and Morocco. Journal of European Public Policy (2024).
3. Regulatory capture on emergency due process of law-making. Cogent Social Sciences (2024).
4. Keeping control of regulation? Domestic constraints on the creation of independent authorities in emerging and developing economies. Governance (2020).