Regulation in Practice The de facto Independence of Regulatory Agencies

This book develops and applies an inventive theoretical approach, which combines different levels of analysis and activates a wide range of methods, to the comparative study of an important point that had been neglected so far, namely the real (or "de facto") independence of regulatory agencies. The first part of the book examines the organizational and institutional factors shaping de facto independence of regulatory agencies in Western Europe. Second, the role of independent regulatory agencies in the policy-making process is investigated, using de facto independence as an explanatory variable. The third part is devoted to the relations between regulatory agencies and the news media. In the conclusive discussion, the author also tackles a set of normative questions, which relates to the virtues and perils of independence.