 Three Risks, One Solution? Exploring the Relationship between Risk and RegulationFiona Haines The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2013, vol. 649, issue 1, 35-51 Abstract: The risks at the heart of regulation are most often understood as unwanted by-products of an essentially productive endeavor. They are to be captured and managed through dedicated technical and bureaucratic effort, the preserve of those skilled in the assessment of probability and impact and accomplished in the design of effective—and efficient—regulatory strategies. Yet such a view seriously misunderstands the complexity of risk that regulation must address. When regulation is viewed from a social and organizational vantage point, risks of a more social and political character emerge. This article teases apart three fundamental ideal types of risk inherent in regulatory processes, only one of which (labeled as actuarial risk) is apprehensible from a scientific or bureaucratic frame of reference. Of equal importance are sociocultural and political risks, risks that cannot be relegated to a lesser priority by an understanding that labels their impact on regulation variously as unwarranted, irrational, or emotional. Keywords: regulation; risk; regulatory reform; regulatory compliance; legitimacy; social change; scientific and technical expertise (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:649:y:2013:i:1:p:35-51 Access Statistics for this article More articles in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |
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