ABSTRACT
The use of the coercive power of the state to achieve government goals through the control or alteration of societal (and governmental) behaviour is the essence of regulation, the most common type of governing instrument found in this category and the one most compatible with legal forms of governance. In general, all types of regulation involve the promulgation of more or less binding rules which circumscribe or alter the behaviour of particular target groups (Hood 1986a; Kiviniemi 1986). As it has been succinctly described by Barry Mitnick, this invoves the ‘public administrative policing of a private activity with respect to a rule prescribed in the public interest’ (Mitnick 1978). Rules take various forms and include standards, permits, prohibition, and executive orders. Some regulations, like ones dealing with criminal behaviour, are laws and involve the police and judicial system in their enforcement. Most regulations, however, are administrative edicts created under the terms of enabling legislation and administered on a continuing basis by a government department or a specialized, quasi-judicial government agency (Rosenbloom 2007). In relatively rare cases the authority to enact, enforce or adjudicate regulations can also be delegated to NGOs in various forms of ‘voluntary’ or ‘self-regulation’.
