Presentation at Wye, November 2004-11-09
COMPLEMENTARITY OF
APPROACHES ADOPTED BY
TWO TEAMS
MARKET FAILURE AND
GOVERNMENT FAILURE
CABINET OFFICE BUSINESS
REGULATION TEAM IN 2002
REFERS TO:
‘Testing requirements and allied
procedures … evidently designed to
cope with standard, mass-produced
synthetic chemical pesticides … and
not with this group of safer
alternatives’ [bio-pesticides]
‘An interesting example of
regulation-inspired market failure’
PARADIGM OF REGULATORY
STATE IN POLITICAL SCIENCE
DEVELOPED BY MORAN
CORE FEATURES:
 Displacement of ‘command’ state
(‘Keynesian welfare’ state) by
regulatory state. Seen in ideal
typical terms as progressive
 Involves more indirect forms of
state control (which do not,
however, necessarily reduce state
power)
 Replacement of self-regulation
which was seen to fail both in
terms of economic efficiency and
public accountability
MORAN SUGGESTS THAT
PRESENT FORM OF
REGULATORY STATE IS AN
IMPERFECT TRANSITION
Hood et al – ‘The Government of
Risk’
EXPLORE AND COMPARE NINE
REGULATORY REGIMES, TWO
CONCERNED WITH PESTICIDES
Central premise: risk regulation
regimes can vary even within the
same ‘regulatory state’
Scientific expertise is essential in
pesticides but highly contested.
Multiple interest groups and
substantial media attention
High level of organisational
complexity in regime because a form
of multi-level governance involving
EU
Also suggest (controversially) that
PSD is an example of budget
maximisation
POLICY COMMUNITY/POLICY
NETWORK THEORY WOULD
SUGGEST THAT AGROCHEMICALS POLICY
COMMUNITY IS HIGHLY
DEVELOPED WHEREAS BIOPESTICIDES HAS A WEAK
NETWORK
POLICY NETWORK THEORY
SUGGESTS THAT POLICY
NETWORKS ARE GOOD AT
MANAGING INCREMENTAL
CHANGE, BUT ONLY INNOVATE
IN CONDITIONS OF MAJOR
CRISIS OR EXOGENOUS SHOCK
Identify and explore interactions of
policy actors
Examine alternative approach of
substantial government intervention
developed in Denmark
As power has flowed down the food
chain, see the emergence of a retail
led system of governance.
What leverage can retailers exert?
ONE HAS A SET OF PRODUCTS
WHICH APPEAR TO BE:
 Safe
 Efficacious
 Meet consumer demands
BUT ARE NOT BEING WIDELY
ADOPTED
SYSTEMS OF REGULATION CAN
HAVE UNINTENDED
CONSEQUENCES:
 Bureaucratic theory suggests that
there is a tendency for
mechanisms to displace goals, for
process to become more
important than outcomes
 Policy instruments are considered
in isolation from their wider
effects
NEED TO LOOK AT COSTS AND
BENEFITS OF BIO-PESTICIDES
WITHIN A BROAD
PERSPECTIVE