Social Regulation

A recent book by Daniel Fiorino, leader of a key regulatory research program at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has raised eyebrows. Fiorino's book The New Environmental Regulation, points out that the 35-year old system of environmental regulation assumes that"environmental protection and business are irreversibly at odds". Its rigid, top-down regulations were designed by the founders of the 1970s laws to assure that the environment would not be overwhelmed by powerful economic forces. However, the problems and inefficiences created by the now 35-year old system are seen as serious - it is seriously out of date and in need of change. European nations are accomplishing environmental protection while sustaining economic activity through cooperation and performance-based approaches while we flounder. The problems are coming to a head, as the existing system potentially conflicts with the need get the investment and cooperation of industry in transforming the U.S. energy system - if greenhouse gas emissions that are being increasingly blamed for adverse climate changes are to be drastically reduced. At a recent conference of the American Academy of Public Administration, Fiorino was a featured speaker. In response to questions, he acknowledged that many of the flaws and inefficiencies in the U.S.'s existing regulatory system were already addressed in "Social Regulation", by Bardach and Kagan, a book that he regarded as still being among the best on the subject of environmental regulation. This edited book was the outgrowth of an initiative by the Institute for Contemporary Studies, San Francisco CA, which sought a study on social regulation with special focus on reform in anticipation of the incoming administration of Ronald Reagan. Unfortunately, Reagan's policy specialists didn't choose the pathways suggested by Bardach and Kagan, but tried to control regulation at the enforcement end - which boomeranged. Fiorino acknowledged that he knew no better summary of the problems and potentials for reform. I'll be reviewing turbulent story of the U.S. environmental regulatory system, myself, in a forthcoming book. I agree with Fiorino that Bardach and Kagan (who have each written or cooperated in many other thoughtful books and articles since this earlier work) did remarkable groundwork in this book, which consists of three sections and a total of 16 chapters.They're not interested in ideology or pushing pet theories. They are among an elite in academia who have been willing to fully grapple with reality and try to come up with truth and answers. The edited book has many notes and references but no tables and graphs - to my regret. Most of the chapters are clear and jargon free, but the concepts dealt with are so complicated that this book just can't be hammock reading. There are both optimistic scenarios, and pessimistic predictions made by the 12 contributors (including Bardach and Kagan). Some say that cooperation and self-regu