Varieties of Regulatory State: Wind Power Diffusion in the United Kingdom and Germany

Abstract

Recently, new governance modes have been the subject of wide discussion in regulatory state literature (Moran 2001a&b/2002; Cook, Kirkpatrick, Minogue, and Parker eds. 2004; Jordana and Levi-Faur eds. 2004/2005). Writers refer to “the rise of the post-regulatory state” (Scott 2004) and “the making of a new regulatory order” (Jordana and Levi-Faur 2005). Typical is the view of Levi-Faur (2005: 5) that “regulation is a necessary condition for the functioning of the market … regulation is helping to legitimize markets and facilitate transactions by enhancing trust.” This rise of “pro-competitive” and/or “promarket” regulation is one of the defining features of these models of a new regulatory order. Substitution of state discretionary power with market players’ decisions is not the aim, however. The state’s regulatory role is changing from “setting down rules and powers” to “meta-regulation,” that is, a steering role that includes “legal underpinning for indirect control over internal normative systems” where, nevertheless, “ends are ultimately set and determined by the sovereign state” (Scott 2004: 167–168). Yet, all these arguments for a more light-handed regulation and a steering role of the state appear insufficient when implementation is further closely scrutinized. What do the national institutions and their regulations exactly look like during implementation?

A modified version of this chapter titled “Obliging Institutions and Industry Evolution: A Comparative Study of the German and U.K. Wind Energy Industries” was published in Industry and Innovation, Vol. 12, No. 1 (March 2005 ); and some ideas of this chapter are sourced from “The Telecommunications Regulatory Regimes in Hong Kong and Singapore: When Direct State Intervention Meets Indirect Policy Instruments,” coauthored by Painter, Martin, and Shiu-Fai Wong, paper delivered to the Fourth International Convention of Asian Scholars, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, August 20–24, 2005.