Regulation, Deregulation, Reregulation

It is a paradox of European Union governance that it can be constructed as an over-zealous regulator while pursuing a deregulatory liberal economic agenda. This text sets out to get beneath the surface of this paradox to explore the deep terrain of EU governance. The attempt to simplify legislation and to diversify the range of policy instruments while speaking to a more responsive and less invasive form of regulation, nonetheless may actually serve to deepen the Europeanization of regulatory activities involving new actors in the regulatory chain. In exploring specific examples from a variety of policy domains, this text uses the themes of deregulation, reregulation and regulatory reform to reflect upon the interaction of law, politics and economics in the evolution of EU governance.