Understanding Complex Governance Relationships in Food Safety Regulation: The RIT Model as a Theoretical Lens

In this article we discuss the value of the RIT model for analyzing complex governance relationships in the regulation of food safety. The RIT model is about the analysis of regulatory interactions among actors beyond the dichotomy of regulators and targets (Abbott, Levi-Faur, and Snidal 2017). We examine the current landscape of food safety regulation through the lens of this model, addressing the question of what the model has to offer to the analysis of regulatory governance in that field. By exploring food safety regimes involving the European Union and the Global Food Safety Initiative, we highlight the diverse and complex relationships among the actors in public, private, and hybrid regimes of food safety regulation. We extend the basic RIT model to better fit the reality of (hybrid) governance relationships in the modern regulation of food safety, arguing that the model enables disaggregation of these regimes into analytical subunits or “regulatory chains,” in which each actor contributes to and affects the regulatory process. Finally, we critically assess what the RIT model adds to alternative theoretical approaches in identifying, mapping, and explaining the different roles actors play vis-a-vis others in regulatory regimes.