Smart regulation, shifting architectures and changes in governance

Abstract

Purpose – The paper explores theories of regulation by examining their consistency and fit with the development of smart regulation, better regulation and self‐regulation. It achieves this through the use of two case studies. Building control is offered as an example of deregulation, the 1980s approach to “smart” regulation, whilst the Primary Authority scheme is provided as an example of current thinking. The paper develops an explanation of how these shifting regulatory architectures have generated current views of how to manage the issue of regulation and then proposes a framework to explain how professional and local authority regulation works and can be made to work better.Design/methodology/approach – Analytical, as a preliminary to testing theoretical constructs by further empirical research. The paper examines case studies to draw out the drivers for regulatory practice and then establishes a model from this as the basis for further work.Findings – The use of Giddens's concept of Late Modernity is...