Regulation: After ‘Command and Control’

Abstract Just one of Don Harris’ contributions to the development of socio-legal studies has been his work on different methods of providing compensation and support for illness and injury (see Harris et al.,1984). Such research has manifested a concern that administrative and legal mechanisms should be tested for their appropriateness to particular tasks and a belief that the way such mechanisms operate on the ground should be a focus of attention. Echoing such interests, this chapter looks at different methods of controlling industrial or social activities and looks, in particular, at the potential of new regulatory techniques-techniques that can be contrasted with what might be called ‘old-fashioned command-and-control’ regulation. I begin by outlining the command-and-control method and its supposed problems. The alternatives to command and control are then reviewed and questions are asked about the limitations of such methods and their capacity to overcome familiar regulatory difficulties. Finally, comments are offered on how choices of control device can be made.