ABSTRACT
The architecture of health sector regulatory fields is being redrawn with the entry of new actors into existing regulatory arenas. While some regulators date from the nineteenth century, such as medical registration boards, by the beginning of the twenty-first century new bodies were being set up to improve health care. The diffusion of power in modern economies means that the state must mobilize networks of power to get things done. A node of governance can be defined as a place where resources, ideas, capacity and leadership converge. The concept of decentred regulation is illuminating as it makes clear that regulation in the health sector does not revolve around one single body: the planets in these regulatory constellations do not necessarily orbit around one sun. Health sector regulatory styles can be mapped against the four quadrants of society that undertake regulatory activities: government, professions, civil society, and the market.
