Regulation and Governance
Several research projects are concerned with the ways in which modern law seeks to change the behaviour of social actors in order to accomplish specific social and economic goals in the public interest.
Regulation Discussion Group
The Centre hosts the Regulation Discussion Group which provides a forum for all interested in analysing regulatory practice from a theoretical, empirical, and public policy perspective. It seeks to facilitate cross-disciplinary debate about regulation among lawyers, sociologists, political scientists and economists. The group organises guest speaker seminars, a reading group and ‘work in progress’ sessions which also support graduate students’ works by providing a forum to network and discuss cutting edge regulation research. For more info visit the http://www.oxonregulationdiscussiongroup.co.uk/.
Research Topics
The legal regulation of transgenic agriculture in the European Union (Dr Bettina Lange)
This project investigates how debate about whether to authorize GMO products is structured in the context of the EU authorisation procedure under Directive 2001/18 and Regulation 1829/2003. The research examines from a Foucauldian discourse analytical perspective how the disciplining of emotion discourses constructs the ‘rationality’ of the EU administrative state.
Regulating through a social sphere (Dr. Bettina Lange)
This project develops the idea of ‘regulating through a social sphere’ as an alternative to state ‘command and control’ regulation and reliance on self-regulatory markets, two key approaches to regulation that have been shown – also in the context of the 2008 financial crisis – to be severely limited. ‘Regulating through a social sphere’ examines initiatives of civil society actors, such as non-governmental organizations and economic actors for regulating business behaviour, for instance through fair trade schemes and environmentalist consumer activism. The project draws on the social-theoretical work of Karl Polanyi, an economic sociologist who explored how the embedding of economic into social relationships contributes to the regulation of business behavior.
The open-method of co-ordination: just all words? (Dr Bettina Lange and Dr Nafsika Alexiadou, Keele University, UK)
Bettina Lange is working with Dr. Nafsika Alexiadou from Keele University on a research project which examines how ‘soft’ law governance regulates public policy making. The project focuses on the Open Method of Co-Ordination as applied to education policies in the EU. The project also involves collaboration with an international group of political scientists examining the application of the OMC in the fields of the environment, taxation, education and employment, co-ordinated by Prof. Fink-Hafner, Ljubljana University, Slovenia.
Corporate responsibility (Professor Doreen McBarnet)
Professor McBarnet continues her work on corporate responsibility, particularly in relation to corporate finance and tax.
The role of lawyers in regulation (Professor Doreen McBarnet)
Professor McBarnet has been developing her work on the role of lawyers and legal work in regulation, including work on the role of ‘legal engineering’ and the banking crisis. http://ssrn.com/abstract=1546486
The evolution of economic regulation: theory and practice (Dr Christopher Decker)
This research focuses on the central developments in the theory(s) of economic regulation, as well as in the practice of economic regulation across the utility sectors (energy, communications, water) over the past three decades. It examines the reasons why certain activities and sectors are subject to regulation; how those sectors are regulated in terms of specific regulatory policies; the different regulatory philosophies that have been adopted in different jurisdictions and sectors; and the various institutions and bodies involved in the regulatory arena. It also draws on the conclusions of recent research as to where economic regulation has, and has not, been successful or effective in practice.
Regulation of legal services and the legal services profession (Dr Christopher Decker).
This project builds on recent joint research into the economic rationale for legal services regulation. It examines the underlying questions relating to the regulation of this area of economic activity, and this particular profession. In particular, it focuses on the possible risks to a society/economy associated with the work and activity of lawyers being unregulated or /unsupervised; and questions relating to the appropriate regulatory approach.
European civil justice systems (Professor Christopher Hodges)
Within the Programme on European Civil Justice Professor Hodges and his team carry out research on litigation funding and costs, dispute resolution systems, including ADR, and the enforcement of EU and UK competition law.
Human rights and regulation Dr David Erdos examines intersections between the two, especially in the area of privacy and data protection. For further information please see http://www.csls.ox.ac.uk/dataprotection.
The social foundations of public law Professor Denis Galligan researches the involvement of public law in regulation.
Regulation of Combat Operations (Janina Dill)
Moral agency and individual legal responsibility in combat operations: The norm affirming individual legal responsibility for actions in war, especially the conduct of hostilities, appears to be universal and rock solid. At the same time, there are significant obstacles to holding individuals responsible for their actions in combat, some of which lie in the architecture of the law itself. For instance, the deontological emphasis in IHL raises a question: If combatants are legally responsible, why do vital parts of ICL and IHL further the notion that during hostilities it is enough “to want the right thing”? This project will discuss possible practical grounds for the notion that war ought to be subject to moral and legal norms that differ from other forms of human activity. It will do so in light of the scope and constraints on individual moral agency imposed by modern targeting systems, asking whether the choices and control of individual agents at different levels of the chain of command match the assumptions about moral agency underlying the law that criminalises unlawful attack.
Students working in this area
Julian Sempill
