From the Regulatory Frontlines

Mapping, exploring and interrogating the state-of-the art in regulatory practice

Brief book review – Implementing Public Policy

(4th Edition)

MARCH 7, 2022FEBRUARY 23, 2022 ~ JEROEN VAN DER HEIJDEN

Michael Hill and Peter Hupe, 2022, SAGE Publications, 290 pages

Prof Michael Hill (University of Newcastle Upon Tyne) and Prof Peter Hupe (University of Leuven)
have just released the 4th Edition of their popular and practical handbook Implementing Public
Policy (https://au.sagepub.com/en-gb/oce/implementing-public-policy/book272134). The book has a
much broader focus than regulatory scholarship but is relevant for those interested in the study of
regulatory practice.

Hill and Hupe stress that after the policymaking process, ‘the rest is often a matter of
implementation’. “Seeing implementation as the residual of the policy process is a major problem”,
they argue (p. 4). Not considering it part of the policymaking process will make implementation
exceptionally difficult, and policies may not achieve their desired results.

Another point that Hill and Hupe keep coming back to is that scholarly interest in policy
implementation is not as high as it could and maybe should be. It could simply be that it is too
challenging to undertake proper implementations studies.[1] In addition, after a period of increased
scholarly interest in policy implementation, the shift to New Public Management in the 1980s and
1990s has moved scholarly interest in a different direction (Ch. 5).

Still, Hill and Hupe distil different models of ‘governance in action’ (Ch. 7). A first model is
governance-by-authority, in which an enforcement perspective and management via inputs are
central. A second model is governance-by-transaction, in which a performance perspective and
management via outputs are central. A third and final model is governance-by-persuasion, in which a
co-production perspective and management via outcomes as shared results are central. Such models
could be a starting point for future research on regulatory governance in practice. In addition, they
may provide starting points for regulatory agencies to reflect on their own management models.

As Chair in Regulatory Practice, I enjoyed Chapter 9 the most. This chapter deals with implementing
rule-oriented policies (such as regulation). If the implementation is challenging for any policy, it is
perhaps even more so for rule-oriented policies. They are often deliberately open and vague, which
complicates their implementation, but even more problematically is that in the development of these
policies, “discretion [is] a leftover” (p. 195).

Because implementation is often seen as ‘the rest’ and discretion as ‘leftover’ in the policymaking
process, it is essential that cultivate and maintain an attitude of public service professionalism in
those who implement regulation. I fully agree with Hill and Hupe that such professionalism can be
mapped and empirically investigated to set a baseline of where we are now and understand how we
can do better.
In short, the book gives some good starting points to various audiences. For scholars interested in
studying regulatory governance in practice, it provides a good starting point for undertaking
implementation research. For leaders of regulatory agencies, it gives a systematic approach to map
their regulatory management systems. Finally, it is an important reminder for policymakers that their
regulatory policies are unlikely to achieve their anticipated results if the implementation is not
considered in the design process.

Disclaimer

In these brief book reviews, I discuss classic and contemporary books that make up the canon of
regulatory scholarship (or help undertake regulatory scholarship). I focus on their central ideas or
core notions and aim to keep the reviews to around 500 words. Unfortunately, this implies I must
sacrifice a considerable amount of detail from the books reviewed.

[1] For example, causal mechanisms of implementation can only be uncovered from rigorous cross-
sector or cross-country comparative studies and those are timely and expensive.
POSTED IN LITERATURE
BOOK REVIEW REGULATORY GOVERNANCE IN PRACTICE

Published by Jeroen van der Heijden

Professor Jeroen van der Heijden works at the intersection of regulation and governance, with a
specific interest in regulatory stewardship and dynamic governance regimes. As Chair in Regulatory
Practice at the School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington, he is involved in world-
leading research on regulatory practice and contributes to the training of those involved in regulatory
issues. His research is organised around key-innovations in regulatory practice (including the use of
behavioural incentives in regulation, regulatory intermediaries, and the resilience of regulatory
regimes) and critical policy objectives in New Zealand and elsewhere. This allows him to draw
lessons from New Zealand and elsewhere to improve New Zealand regulation and its impact on
economic and social performance, and to showcase the state-of-the-art in regulatory practice in New
Zealand to the rest of the world. Jeroen is an Honorary Professor at the Australian National
University (School of Regulation and Global Governance), and previously held positions at the
University of Amsterdam (College of Law), Delft University of Technology (Faculty of Technology,
Policy and Management), and Wageningen University (Environmental Policy Group). He has
published widely on regulation and governance, including five books and over 70 articles in leading
academic journals. View all posts by Jeroen van der Heijden

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