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European University Institute - Florence School of Transnational Governance

Designing rulemaking: new book finds regulatory pathways to good governance

The book, authored by Professor Claudio Radaelli and his ERC project team, explores how rulemaking design shapes business, corruption, and sustainability.

04 February 2025 | Publication - Research

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In today’s complex world, the process of crafting regulations is under greater scrutiny than ever before. Citizens and stakeholders demand transparency, while governments have embraced regulatory reforms aimed at improving rulemaking. But do these procedural tools — consultations, impact assessments, freedom of information acts, and Ombudsman offices — actually lead to better governance?

This is the central question addressed in Designing Rulemaking: How Regulatory Policy Instruments Matter for Governance, a collaborative effort led by EUI Professor Claudio M. Radaelli, alongside Florence STG researchers Jonathan Kamkhaji and Gaia Taffoni, Claudius Wagemann (part-time Professor at the Florence STG, Full Professor at Goethe University in Frankfurt), and Claire Dunlop (Professor at the University of Exeter). The book builds on a major European Research Council (ERC) project, ‘Procedural Tools for Effective Governance’, to investigate whether the design of regulatory processes influences key outcomes such as business conditions, perception of corruption, and environmental performance.

“Governments have spent decades refining procedural regulatory instruments,” Radaelli, a Full-time professor at the Florence School of Transnational Governance, explains. “Our goal was to ask: does all this design work add up? Are these reforms coherent, and do they deliver measurable improvements in governance?” The authors examine these questions not by isolating each tool, but by analysing them as part of an interconnected ecology.

Unlike traditional approaches that treat regulatory tools in isolation, Designing Rulemaking adopts a set-theoretical framework to analyse causality. This granular perspective uncovers rich nuances often missed by international organisations advocating one-size-fits-all solutions. “It’s time to rethink the ‘better regulation’ agenda,” Radaelli argues. “We show that reforms should come in bundles, calibrated around local administrative traditions and fine-tuned to existing levels of informality.”

The power of light design

One of the book’s surprising findings is that lighter proceduralisation can outperform heavily codified systems in certain contexts. Radaelli points to Sweden as a prime example: “Sweden excels in managing the Ombudsman, but it doesn’t burden the institution with excessive procedural rules. This shows that light design can be highly effective when backed by strong social capital and informal cooperation between government agencies.”

For policymakers, the takeaway is clear: more rules don’t necessarily mean better governance. “Sometimes, systems need room to breathe,” says Radaelli. The research demonstrates that adding layers of procedures may hinder efficiency rather than enhance it, particularly in environments where trust in institutions is already high.

Lessons for policymakers and international organisations

The book’s implications extend far beyond academic circles. For policymakers, it offers a roadmap for designing reforms that align regulatory tools with real-world outcomes. “We provide precise, actionable insights on how to fine-tune individual instruments and their combinations for better governance,” Radaelli emphasises.

He challenges the status quo of international advisory practices. “There’s always more than one way to achieve a regulatory goal — what we call equifinality. Generic prescriptions don’t work. We need sophisticated metrics based on robust theoretical foundations, not ad-hoc thinking,” he cautions.

Regulatory design also involves trade-offs. “What benefits the business environment might not work for environmental performance,” Radaelli notes. “Recognising these trade-offs requires humility and ecological thinking — understanding how instruments interact rather than treating them as isolated tools.”

A call for precision and sophistication

As governments worldwide grapple with the twin imperatives of competitiveness and sustainability, Designing Rulemaking delivers a timely call for smarter regulatory design. “Regulatory impact assessment remains one of the most crucial instruments, but it must be part of a coherent ecology, not a standalone solution,” Radaelli says.

Ultimately, the book argues for a future where regulation is both nuanced and effective. “Humility doesn’t mean irrelevance. Our research shows that procedural instruments are malleable, and their design matters for governance. The right configurations can create conditions for success — provided we think ecologically and go granular.”

For policymakers, scholars, and international bodies alike, Designing Rulemaking is a compelling reminder: better governance starts with better design.

The book is published by Oxford University Press (2024) and available in open access here.

Last update: 04 February 2025

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