The three-dimensional complexity of regulation–process, attitudes, and modalities

• Department of Law

This event is organised by the Digital Public Sphere Working Group.

How can we make sense of regulation when its features, tools and very definition remain deeply contested? The need for a coherent analytical framework becomes increasingly urgent, as labels such as 'collaborative' 'responsive' or 'enabling' adorn regulatory regimes spanning from those requiring information disclosure to those imposing complex civil or criminal liabilities. However, despite extensive research on specific regulatory cases, there is a lack of a comprehensive model with which to understand how different regulatory features interact and influence each other. This gap hinders our ability to assess existing regulation, and it becomes particularly acute as regulators face risks associated with the virtual dimension. These challenges are addressed by proposing a new taxonomy that reconceptualises the legal regulatory landscape through a three-dimensional spatial framework: regulation as a process, regulation as a set of legal instruments (modalities), and regulation as attitudes. The regulation of cyber provides an insightful test case. 

Speaker: Prof. Amnon Reichman (EUI Fernand Braudel Fellow, Department of Law; and Research Forum for the Study of the Rule of Law, University of Haifa)

Discussant: Rafael Bezerra Nunes (Max Weber Fellow, EUI)

Chair: Natalia Menéndez González (Department of Law and Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, EUI)