Path Dependency and the Implementation of Environmental Regulation

Elizabeth A Kirk, Alison D Reeves and Kirsty L Blackstock
Additional contact information
Elizabeth A Kirk: School of Law, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN, Scotland
Alison D Reeves: Geography, School of Social Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN, Scotland
Kirsty L Blackstock: Socio-Economics Research Programme, The Macaulay Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, Scotland

Environment and Planning C, 2007, vol. 25, issue 2, 250-268

Abstract: The authors examine the implementation of environmental regulation and demonstrate that path dependency, created largely by resource constraints, narrows the range of options for implementing regulation. It also magnifies the impact of the institutional history of the regulatory body and the impact of the disciplinary commitments of those working within the regulatory body on the implementation process. It is shown that the result is that those involved in the implementation process are unable to consider all possible routes to implementation but, rather, only a relatively few ‘manageable’ options for the regulation of particular activities. The arguments are examined in the context of implementation of the Water Framework Directive 2000 (WFD) in Scotland. In particular the authors focus on the regulation of diffuse pollution under the WFD and on the role played by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in that regulation.

Date: 2007
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/c0512j (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:25:y:2007:i:2:p:250-268

DOI: 10.1068/c0512j

Access Statistics for this article

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