Conceptualizing Regulatory Arrangements: Complex Networks of Actors and Regulatory Roles

Abstract

Food regulation nowadays involves a broad variety of actors, including government agencies as well as other stakeholders. In this chapter I explore which actors are involved in private and mixed forms of food regulation. This question is important when considering such issues as the effectiveness, legitimacy and accountability of regulatory regimes. I argue that a dichotomous distinction between public (governmental) and private (non-governmental) regulation is not an adequate conceptualisation for analysing the reconfiguration of relationships between the actors involved in food regulation. We need more sophisticated distinctions linking the type of actor to the role they play in the regulatory process. I disentangle the regulatory process into multiple regulatory roles/actions in order to analyse complex patterns of actor involvement in a regulatory regime.

Keywords: Food regulation, regulatory arrangements, food safety, certification, private regulation, governance triangle