Regionalising the state: political topography of regulatory regionalism

In recent years new modes of regional governance such as peer review, policy networks, and multi-level governance, have emerged not only in the European Union but in other regions such as the Asia Pacific. This article explains the rise of these new modes of governance in terms of the framework of regulatory regionalism. It suggests that these new modes of governance constitute distinctive forms of regionalised governance within the state. Hence emerging practices of regional governance are not above the national state, but instantiated within it. Just as much as the national territorial state was consolidated over the nineteenth and much of the twentieth century, the twenty-first century is likely to see the consolidation of new forms and practices of regional governance in which the ‘regional’ becomes incorporated within the political space of the state.     

Understanding the Regulatory Thicket: Interactions Among State Environmental Regulators and Regulatees

Research exploring state-level regulatory interactions in the U.S. often employs survey methodology to ask front-line actors about their experiences. While these efforts are noteworthy, we argue that it is important to investigate these interactions utilizing a different approach. In this exploratory study, we use randomized vignettes, to which a respondent can react without fear of revealing practices or succumbing to social desirability. Our results are in concert with a growing body of literature that suggests cooperation between the regulator and regulatees is essential for future interactions in order to achieve compliance, yet each party’s perceptions may not be completely congruent.     

Governing disorder: the Australian Federal Police and Australia's new regional frontier

Abstract

The Australian Federal Police has in recent years become an important actor in both the implementation and design of Australian-led state building interventions in Australia's near region of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. The article focuses on the recent expansion of the Australian Federal Police as a way of understanding the emergence of a new partly (and strategically) deterritorialized, ‘regional’ frontier of the Australian state. Within this new frontier, whose fluctuating outlines the Australian Federal Police not only polices but also to a considerable extent shapes and reshapes, as one of the primary expert agencies on identifying and managing transnational security risks, Australian security is portrayed as contingent on the quality of the domestic governance of neighbouring states, thereby creating linkages between the hitherto domestic governing apparatus of the Australian state and those of other countries. This allows for the rearticulation of the problems affecting intervened states and societies – indeed, their very social and political structures – in the depoliticized terms of the breakdown of ‘law and order’ and the absence of ‘good governance’, which not only rationalizes emergency interventions to stabilize volatile situations, but also delegitimizes and potentially criminalizes oppositional politics. The Australian Federal Police, however, does more than merely provide justification for intrusive state transformation projects. Its transnational policing activities open up a field of governance within the apparatus of intervened states that exists in separation from international and domestic law. The constitution of such interventions ‘within’ the state leaves intact the legal distinction between the domestic and international spheres and therefore circumvents the difficult issue of sovereignty. As a result, police and other executive-administrative actors obtain discretionary ordering powers, without dislodging the sovereign governments of intervened countries.     

British corporatism

Politics in Industrial Society. By Keith Middlemas. London: Andre Deutsch, 1979. Pp.512. £14.95 (case). £5.95 (paper).

The Politics of the Corporate Economy. By Trevor Smith. Oxford: Martin Robertson, 1979. £17.50.

Governing Under Pressure: The Policy Process in a Post‐Parliamentary Democracy. By J.J. Richardson and Grant Jordan. Oxford: Martin Robertson, 1979. £16.50 (case). £5.90 (paper).     

Regulating Lobbyists: A Comparative Analysis of the United States, Canada, Germany and the European Union

Lobbying is central to the democratic process. Yet, only four political systems have lobbying regulations: the United States, Canada, Germany and the EU (most particularly, the European Parliament). Despite the many works offering individual country analysis of lobbying legislation, a twofold void exists in the literature. Firstly, no study has offered a comparative analysis classifying the laws in these four political systems, which would improve understanding of the different regulatory environments. Secondly, few studies have analysed the views of key agents—politicians, lobbyists and regulators—and how these compare and contrast across regulatory environments.
We firstly utilise an index measuring how strong the regulations are in each of the systems, and develop a classification scheme for the different 'ideal' types of regulatory environment. Secondly, we measure the opinions of political actors, interest groups and regulators in all four systems (through questionnaires and elite interviews) and see what correlations, if any, exist between the different ideal types of system and their opinions. The conclusion highlights our findings, and the lessons that can be used by policy-makers in systems without lobbying legislation.     

The Role of Policy Brokers: The Case of Biotechnology in Kenya

Debates about biotechnology continue to be polarized despite its potential to improve the living standards of the poor in Sub‐Saharan Africa. In the backdrop of this polarized scenario, this paper asked, is there a place for brokers in bringing about a productive debate that is pro‐development? The paper argued that if potential intermediaries are analyzed from the perspective of understanding their role and stakeholding in the regulatory change process, this may help breakout the current polarized anti‐ and pro‐biotechnology debates and thereby focus on how to enable productive biotechnology development. Informed by insights from innovation brokering, the functions of brokers in biotechnology regulation are analyzed through the lens of organizations involved in agricultural biotechnology debates in Kenya. The analysis found that policy brokering function attracts varying opportunities and challenges appropriate for informing relevant policy. The paper drew lessons from Kenya's experience to inform a productive policy brokering model for biotechnology regulation.     

Regulation in Comparative Perspective

Structural changes in the world economy pose challenging new problems for comparative policy analysis. One such problem is the harmonization of domestic policies and institutions, which the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations has identified as a key principle of international economic relations. Harmonization may mean the creation of a single policy space out of a number of distinct jurisdictions. It can also mean the adoption of common policy goals or general principles that national governments can pursue by different strategies. Comparative analysis can help in choosing the type of harmonization most appropriate in a given context. This article analyzes the development of harmonization strategies in the European Community/European Union. The European experience shows that far-reaching economic integration can be achieved without suppressing cultural diversity and legitimate differences in national preferences.     

对警察权规制路径的思考

警察权是国家权力的重要组成部分,警察权的运行状态在一定程度上标志着一个国家法制文明的发展水平。在社会主义初级阶段的社会转型时期,警察权的运行状态引起了学术界和公共管理部门的高度重视。警察权的配置是根据国家政治制度和权力组织形式而界定的,研究警察权的治理问题必须基于国家政治制度的框架,坚持从现实社会的需要与可能出发,才能解决问题。     

MEDIATING JUDICIAL POLICY

Despite the widespread use of mediation to resolve public policy disputes, there is little written on the mediation of judicial rule disputes. A successful mediation of a dispute over proposed court rules to govern mediation of certain family law cases involving domestic violence concerns is reviewed. The authors conclude that the mediation provided (a) a confidential venue for disputing judges to respectfully disagree with one another, (b) an opportunity for collaborative problem solving, (c) an opportunity to reduce conflict among judicial colleagues. (d) a format for dialogue with other stakeholders, and (e) greater degree of influence with regard to the outcome of the dispute. Specific recommendations to encourage the effective use of judicial policy mediation are offered.