Reconceiving Law and New Governance

European University Institute Working Paper No. 2007/10

23 Pages Posted: 18 May 2007

See all articles by Neil Walker

Neil Walker

University of Edinburgh, School of Law

Grainne De Burca

New York University (NYU) - Law School; University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Date Written: May 2007

Abstract

This essay re-examines the concepts of Law and New Governance with a view to pursuing three cumulative objectives. First, it emphasizes that both law and new governance are deeply contested concepts whose meaning and inter-relationship cannot just be assumed or taken for granted, as is the tendency in some empirical studies of their interconnection. Second, it suggests that both concepts be situated and understood within an explicitly normative framework, one that takes account of the different implicit value assumptions underpinning many existing definitions. Thirdly, from this starting point it seeks to sketch a new framework of the relationship between Law and New Governance. This framework notes first, the tendency of Law to give priority to the meta-value of social regularity and of New Governance to give priority to the meta-value of social responsiveness; but it notes also the inevitability of some balanced recognition of each of these overarching values within all species of normative order, including both Law and New Governance.

Keywords: governance, multi-level governance, regulation, legitimacy, open co-ordination

Suggested Citation

Walker, Neil and De Burca, Grainne, Reconceiving Law and New Governance (May 2007). European University Institute Working Paper No. 2007/10, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=987180 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.987180

Neil Walker (Contact Author)

University of Edinburgh, School of Law ( email )

Old College
South Bridge
Edinburgh, EH8 9YL
United Kingdom

Grainne De Burca

New York University (NYU) - Law School ( email )

Bobst Library, E-resource Acquisitions
20 Cooper Square 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10003-711
United States

University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Boalt Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
United States

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