Regulatory state
A system of government characterized by extensive regulations and bureaucratic procedures, which was criticized for hindering rapid rebuilding and efficient governance in California.
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7/26/2025, 5:27:21 AM
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Summary
The regulatory state signifies a fundamental shift in governmental function, characterized by an increased reliance on rulemaking, monitoring, and enforcement rather than traditional taxation and spending. This concept has gained prominence among state theorists due to the expansion of civil and business regulation, both domestically and transnationally, leading to related notions like regulatory governance and regulatory capitalism. Historically, its origins can be traced to network regulation in 1844, and in practice, "regulation" encompasses diverse fields from delegated legislation in government to economic, financial, business, biological, and psychological contexts. Contemporary discussions often highlight its role in debates over government competence, economic policy, and the balance between free markets and regulatory frameworks, as seen in responses to events like the LA Fire.
Referenced in 1 Document
Research Data
Extracted Attributes
Nature of Power
Autonomous executive power
Historical Origin
Network regulation
Associated Concepts
Regulatory governance, Regulatory capitalism
Political Character
Bipartisan enterprise
Policy Paradigm Shift
From Keynesian demand management to arm’s-length regulation and arbitration
Scope of 'Regulation'
Delegated legislation (government), regulatory economics, financial regulation, business self-regulation, gene regulation, metabolic regulation, self-regulation theory
Primary Function Shift
Increased use of rulemaking, monitoring, and enforcement by the state, rather than solely taxation and spending
Institutional Development in US
Gained widespread appeal with the New Deal (1933–39), accelerated in 1980s and 1990s
Timeline
- Network regulation, a precursor to the regulatory state, was first instituted by William Gladstone. (Source: dbpedia)
1844-XX-XX
- The process of delegating regulatory authority gained widespread appeal in the United States with the New Deal. (Source: web_search_results)
1933-XX-XX
- The delegation of regulatory authority picked up considerable speed. (Source: web_search_results)
1980-XX-XX
- The delegation of regulatory authority picked up considerable speed. (Source: web_search_results)
1990-XX-XX
- Discussions around the regulatory state emerged in contexts such as debates on government responses to events like the LA Fire, contrasting free market principles with regulatory hindrances. (Source: related_documents)
2023-XX-XX
Wikipedia
View on WikipediaRegulation
Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. For example: in government, typically regulation (or its plural) refers to the delegated legislation which is adopted to enforce primary legislation; including land-use regulation in economy: regulatory economics in finance: financial regulation in business, industry self-regulation occurs through self-regulatory organizations and trade associations which allow industries to set and enforce rules with less government involvement; and, in biology, gene regulation and metabolic regulation allow living organisms to adapt to their environment and maintain homeostasis; in psychology, self-regulation theory is the study of how individuals regulate their thoughts and behaviors to reach goals.
Web Search Results
- Regulatory state - Wikipedia
The term regulatory state refers to the expansion in the use of rulemaking, monitoring and enforcement techniques and institutions by the state and to a parallel change in the way its positive or negative functions in society are being carried out. The expansion of the state nowadays is generally via regulation and less via taxing and spending. The notion of the regulatory state is increasingly more attractive for theoreticians "Theoretician (Marxism)") of the state with the growth in the use [...] The rise of the regulatory state in the Industrial Revolution can be traced to network regulation first instituted by British Prime Minister William Gladstone in 1844. The co-expansion of state, civil and business regulation in the domestic and transnational arenas suggest that the notions of regulatory governance and regulatory capitalism are as useful theoretically as the notion of regulatory state. [...] Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia ## Contents # Regulatory state
- Regulatory state | Britannica Money - Britannica
The notion of the regulatory state suggests that the role of the state in both the economy and society is shifting from positive intervention to arm’s-length regulation and arbitration, particularly in advanced industrial economies. The supposed rise of the regulatory state has thus both a policy and an institutional dimension. It signals a formal end of Keynesian demand management as the dominant economic policy paradigm and highlights the creation of new administrative tools to steer market [...] The process of delegating regulatory authority gained widespread appeal with the New Deal (1933–39) in the United States, and it picked up considerable speed in the 1980s and ’90s. In constructing the regulatory state, governments developed a set of agencies, commissions, and special courts that develop, monitor, and enforce market rules and that increasingly shape policy at home and abroad. Regulatory agencies could set the policy agenda, specify regulatory statutes, and punish noncompliance. [...] Although the regulatory state was often heralded as a fast and flexible alternative to the cumbersome and overly bureaucratic strategies of a previous era, its emergence raised several important questions about democratic governance and accountability. Unlike Keynesian policies that were generally proposed and adopted by elected executives and legislatures, market rules were increasingly developed and implemented by unelected technocrats. To advocates, this mode of economic governance took the
- The Regulatory State | National Affairs
Our regulatory state is the product of more than a century of institutional evolution; it is resilient and adaptable and will not easily be tamed. But its essence, as we have seen, is autonomous executive power, and this tells us where we must start: with the checking and balancing powers of the other two constitutional branches, Congress and the judiciary. [...] Yet the apparent partisan divide over regulation is illusory. The modern regulatory state is a bipartisan enterprise: During the half-century before President Obama's election, the greatest growth in regulation came under Presidents Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. And the Bush administration set the stage for many of the Obama initiatives that Republicans are now attacking. Dodd-Frank's policy of designating some financial firms as "too big to fail" is a codification of the Paulson-Bernanke [...] Instances of excess and abuse are cause enough for alarm, but regulation is also problematic within its prescribed bounds. In its earnest meliorism and sheer profuseness, the regulatory state harkens to Tocqueville's arresting 1840 prophecy of "democratic despotism" in America: "an immense and tutelary power,...absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild...[that] every day renders the exercise of the free agency of man less useful and less frequent." But experience has taught us something
- Regulatory State - Pacific Legal Foundation
One final justification for the regulatory state is blatantly antidemocratic, i.e., that legislatures can’t be trusted to get things right or that partisan gridlock prevents Congress and other legislators from doing the “right” thing. As a result, the argument is that only independent government experts who are politically free can establish the “right” level of regulation, and their independence supposedly allows them to make the “right” policy choices. [...] government actions that regulate the public. [...] The argument for “independence” often mirrors an old justification for the growth of the regulatory state that has been discredited in scholarly circles but is still invoked by regulators themselves and their activist defenders. The argument is that regulators are experts and that they can regulate our lives in a “neutral” manner. There is no way to take politics out of policymaking, including reliance on actual or self-styled experts for part of or the entire policymaking process. To begin
- Partner Agencies - Regulations.gov
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) Selective Service System (SSS) Small Business Administration (SBA) Social Security Administration (SSA) U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) U.S. Copyright Office (COLC) U.S. Department of State (DOS) United States Courts (USC) [...] Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) Postal Service (USPS) Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States (PCSCOTUS) Presidential Documents (PRES) Presidio Trust (PT) Public Buildings Reform Board (PBRB) Public Health Service (PHS) Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) Reagan Udall Foundation (RUF) Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (RATB) Regulatory Information Service Center (RISC) [...] Regulations.gov =============== Give Feedback An official website of the United States Government. Image 1: US flag signifying that this is a United States Federal Government website Skip to Main Content
DBPedia
View on DBPediaThe term regulatory state refers to the expansion in the use of rulemaking, monitoring and enforcement techniques and institutions by the state and to a parallel change in the way its positive or negative functions in society are being carried out. The expansion of the state nowadays is generally via regulation and less via taxing and spending. The notion of the regulatory state is increasingly more attractive for theoreticians of the state with the growth in the use and application of rule making, monitoring and enforcement strategies and with the parallel growth of civil regulation and business regulation. The rise of the regulatory state in the Industrial Revolution can be traced to network regulation first instituted by William Gladstone in 1844. The co-expansion of state, civil and business regulation at the domestic and transnational arenas suggest that the notions of regulatory governance and regulatory capitalism are as usefully theoretically as the notion of regulatory state.
Location Data
State of Michigan - Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, West 8 Mile Road, Southfield, Oakland County, Michigan, 48033, United States
Coordinates: 42.4435565, -83.2963626
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