Setting the standards

According to its blurb, this book provides ‘a concise overview of regulation’, exploring fundamental concepts, theoretical frameworks, and the historical and ongoing evolution of regulation. It is an ambitious objective for a volume of just 123 pages (albeit with a small font). Despite being an ‘introduction’, the book is not wholly for newcomers to public law or political science, since it contains a lot of theoretical discussion. It would also be of interest to practitioners and scholars, and, although it is short, it contains over 30 pages of references.

The book has eight primary chapters covering: theoretical concepts and approaches; the historical development of the regulatory state; the establishment and functioning of regulatory agencies; networked regulation within the European context; regulation beyond the state, such as transnational, private, hybrid and intermediated regulation; regulatory performance and alternatives to traditional regulation; contemporary challenges, including populism and distrust in government; and conclusions and conjecture about the future of governance and regulation. 

There are some controversial views. The author discusses industry standards, referring to the international organisations ISO and IEC, but offers a diffuse explanation for their existence, based on game theory. In fact, the origin of industry standardisation lies in the rapid growth of railways in late-Victorian Britain, led by private companies. The Victorians decided that rather than an unqualified central regulator decreeing technical specifications to ensure interoperability, a better solution would be for the manufacturers themselves to agree as required. They began with the Engineering Standards Committee, which evolved into the British Standards Institution (now BSI), a model subsequently borrowed worldwide, not only in the form of national institutions but international ones including ISO and IEC. The proliferation of standards bodies is an important real-world recognition of the limits of centralised government. 

Due no doubt to space constraints, only a handful of pages are dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI), which is arguably the most significant regulatory challenge in modern times. The author concedes that specific ways to control AI remain vague and indeterminate, not helped by the rapid pace of AI development. If anything, the author understates the situation. Soon AI might be harnessed to devise regulatory solutions, or at least play a central role not only in drafting but also in interpreting and enforcing regulation. 

Pending the full implications of the AI revolution, this book provides interesting principles and insights. 

James Wilson is the author of Lord Denning: Life, Law and Legacy (Wildy, Simmonds & Hill, 2023)