Cooperation and the Capacity for Control: Regulatory Styles and the Evolving Influence of Environmental Regulations in the UK

Andy Gouldson
Additional contact information
Andy Gouldson: Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, London, England

Environment and Planning C, 2004, vol. 22, issue 4, 583-603

Abstract: This paper seeks to contribute to the broader debate on how to promote ‘better regulation’ by examining the origins and influence of different regulatory styles. More particularly it examines the extent to which economic theories of cooperation can help to explain the presence of the cooperative regulatory style that has long been associated with the implementation of environmental regulations in the United Kingdom. After reporting the results of empirical research that focused on these issues, it concludes that cooperative regulatory styles are likely to depend upon: (a) the presence of inter-dependencies between regulators and firms; and either (b) the presence of trust amongst stakeholders; or (c) the effective exclusion of those stakeholders from influence in the regulatory decisionmaking process. Highlighting the importance of recent changes in each of these three areas in the United Kingdom, it explains the factors that have led to a shift away from a purely cooperative approach towards what has been termed a more ‘responsive’ or ‘risk-based’ approach. Recognising that such changes have been driven by a desire to enhance the efficacy and the efficiency of environmental regulation, and by concerns about the lack of transparency and accountability in the regulatory process, it concludes that such evolutions represent an important contribution to the debate on regulation and its reform.

Date: 2004
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/c0312j (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envirc:v:22:y:2004:i:4:p:583-603

DOI: 10.1068/c0312j

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Environment and Planning C
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().