Re - Conceptualizing Regulation , Responsibility and Law Archana Parashar

Regulation, broadly defined, can include any effort by the government to control and direct behaviour of individuals or agencies. In this sense all law is regulatory in nature. But the common meaning of the concept of regulation captures the more narrowly focused economic aspects of governmental direction. Thus typically the literature on regulation canvasses the arguments about the desirability or otherwise of state regulation of economic activities, the benefits or drawbacks of the market as the determinant of economic relations, and various empirical studies informed by these diverse perspectives. A consistent feature of this literature is the lack of agreement about whether regulation or even deregulation of sectors of economy is a good or bad thing. Moreover, empirical studies in one form or another chronicle how regulation is not achieving the intended aims. An important issue, therefore, becomes whether the enterprise of regulation is inherently incapable of guiding individuals’ and agencies’ behaviour in a manner that broader public interest is pursued. I will explore this issue about the capacity of law to pursue fairness but will first argue that there is a need to focus on another meaning of regulation.