Accountability and Regulatory Governance

Andrea C. Bianculli, Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals (IBEI), SpainNicholas Dorn, Erasmus School of Law, Rotterdam, the NetherlandsXavier Fernández-i-Marín, ESADE Business School, SpainNuria Font, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain Selena Grimaldi, University of Padova, ItalyMattia Guidi, LUISS Guido Carli, RomeJacint Jordana, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain and Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals (IBEI), SpainChristel Koop, King's College London, UKMartin Lodge, London School of Economics and Political Science, UKAstrid Molenveld, KU Leuven, Belgium and University of Antwerp, BelgiumI??k Özel, Sabanc? University, IstanbulMaria Stella Righettini, University of Padua, ItalyColin Scott, University College Dublin, IrelandKoen Verhoest, University of Antwerp, BelgiumTom Willems, University of Antwerp, Belgium

'The rise of regulatory governance has given new salience to the old question 'who guards the guardians?' This volume, with contributions by the best scholars in the field, is a true landmark. It provides the first comprehensive and comparative overview of the state of regulatory accountability in Western democracies.' Mark Bovens, Utrecht University School of Governance, The Netherlands 'Clear conceptual thinking about the accountability of regulators is in short supply. This book offers a major remedy. Qualitative and quantitative depiction of variation among states and types of agencies in accountability up, down and horizontally is in even shorter supply. This book again has a remedy on offer. It is a collection of unusual coherence in its focus on fundamental yet neglected questions. A feast of fine authors to devour these challenges'. John Braithwaite, Australian National University, Australia 'How can regulatory bodies conciliate the imperatives of autonomy and accountability? To whom are they accountable, for what, by what means and with what kind of standards? Does accountability in the real world equal their accountability on paper? Combining approaches and methods, this path-breaking collection moves beyond normative considerations and offers a clinical view of the accountability relations of a large number of regulators in several policy sectors, in many countries and in the European Union. Equipped with rigorous conceptual lenses and substantiated with a wealth of data, the contributions elegantly show the astonishing diversity and increasing complexity of accountability regimes. By exploring the impact of the 'regulatory state' on accountabilities this book compellingly identifies some major challenges to the quality of democratic life generated by transformations of governance practice'. Yannis Papadopoulos, University of Lausanne, France

• 1. When Accountability Meets Regulation: An Introduction; Jacint Jordana, Andrea C. Bianculli and Xavier-Fernández-i-Marín 2. Varieties of Accountability Mechanisms in Regulatory Agencies; Xavier-Fernández-i-Marín, Jacint Jordana and Andrea C. Bianculli 3. Explaining Self-Perceived Accountability of Regulatory Agencies in Comparative Perspective: How do Formal Independence and De Facto Managerial Autonomy Interact; Koen Verhoest, Astrid Molenveld and Tom Willems 4. Assessing the Mandatory Accountability of Regulatory Agencies; Christel Koop 5. Modelling the Relationship between Independence and Accountability of Regulatory Agencies; Mattia Guidi 6. Designing Accountability Regimes at the European Union Level; Nuria Font 7. Social Accountability in the Regulatory Policy Process: The Governance of Telecommunications in Italy and Spain; Maria Stella Righettini and Selena Grimaldi 8. Accountability of the IRAs in Turkey: A Cross-Sectoral Comparison; I?ik Özel 9. Regulatory Capitalism, Accountability and Democracy; Colin Scott 10. Financial Markets and Regulatory Accountability: Between Technocratic Autonomy and Democratic Direction; Nicholas Dorn 11. Accountability and Consumer Sovereignty; Martin Lodge 12. Some Comparative Conclusions on Regulatory Governance and Accountability; Andrea C. Bianculli, Jacint Jordana, Xavier Fernández-i-Marín