From the Positive to the Regulatory State : A Transformation in the Machinery of Governance?

Abstract

The change from “the positive to the regulatory state” describes a transformation from a state that itself provides many public social services and utilities to its citizens to a state that simply provides the regulatory framework for such services that are rendered by private actors. By “bringing the market back in,” the regulatory state is closely connected to increasing competitive pressures, globalization, and state failure. After a summary of the relevant theories, we give an overview of the development of the regulatory state in the OECD world and look at cross-national and cross-sectoral variation in the trajectories towards the regulatory state, focusing on processes of liberalization, privatization, and re-regulation. The keywords for the normative challenges of this transformation of the state are welfare, equity, and accountability. Increasingly, regulation at the international level is required.