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Scott, Colin
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Scott, Colin
Official Name
Scott, Colin
Research Output
Now showing 1 - 10 of 63
- PublicationReflexive Governance in Better Regulation: Evidence From Three Countries(Université Catholique de Louvain. Centre de Philosophie du Droit, 2009)
; 338 - PublicationLicensing as a Tool of Regulation and GovernanceLicensing originates from more general practices of those with property rights carving out part of their interest to give limited rights to others in respect of their property, for example having rights to visit or stay on land, or to use copyrighted mater ial by performing a play or a song. In the armoury of tools and techniques for regulation licensing has a central place as the exercise of state control seeking to secure particular social and economic outcomes. The state’s capacity to license is special, as it is linked to the state monopoly over legitimate coercive power
246 - PublicationRegulation in the Age of Governance: The Rise of the Post Regulatory StateThis chapter forms part of a larger project examining governance ‘beyond the regulatory state’. Governance has been defined in a variety of ways in both official and secondary literatures. In this chapter the ‘age of governance’ is conceived in terms of recognising the dispersal of capacities and resources relevant to the exercise of power among a wide range of state, non - state and supranational acto rs. It is claimed that ‘[t]he essence of governance is its focus on governing mechanisms which do not rest on recourse to the authority and sanctions of government’). An analysis in which governing is no longer seen as the exclusive prero gative of the nation state presents a challenge to the literature which argues that the last years of the twentieth century witnessed ‘the rise of the regulatory state’.
2785 - PublicationInternet Filtering: Rhetoric, Legitimacy, Accountability and ResponsibilityThis paper argues that the automatic and opaque nature of internet filtering, together with the fact that it is generally implemented by intermediaries, raises new problems for the law and in particular may tend to undermine aspects of freedom of expression. The paper starts by challenging the rhetoric underlying the use of the term “filtering” and suggests that the use of other terms such as "blocking" or "censorware" may be more appropriate. It then considers where filtering fits into the modalities of governance and the resulting issues of legitimacy and accountability. As regards legitimacy it argues that the use of technology to exert control over internet speech frequently undermines aspects of the rule of law concerning both the process for and content of norms governing behaviour. In relation to accountability, the paper argues that where it is not clear what is being blocked, why, or by whom, the operation of mechanisms of accountability - whether by way of judicial review, media scrutiny, or otherwise - is greatly reduced. Finally the paper suggests that, as compared with control through legal instruments, filtering may rob users of moral agency or responsibility in their use of the internet, with the implication that they may freely do whatever it is technically possible to do, with no necessity of moral engagement in their activities.
1811 - Publication
1323 - PublicationRegulating Everything: From Mega- to Meta-regulationSuch is the extent of contemporary regulatory governance that it is possible to characterise the ambition of governments as ‘regulating everything’. This article contrasts the highly visible growth in numbers and scope of regulatory agencies in Ireland, with the more hidden but highly significant diffusion of regulatory capacity which is evident within regulatory regimes. I argue that the concept of the ‘regulatory regime’ is helpful for resisting the tendency to overstate the power and significance of regulatory agencies and to draw in other kinds of actors and other forms of control into our view of governance. I argue that the fragmentation in terms of organisations and forms of control within regulatory regimes creates a problem involving regulatory agencies not of too much power and too little accountability, but rather the converse – too little power and too much accountability. The reconceptualization of regulation which I offer in this article is centrally concerned with questioning an exclusive focus on ‘mega - regulation’ – command and control by regulatory agencies - and offering a way of thinking about regulatory regimes which recognises and works with the diverse capacities for control within them and offering a more ‘meta - regulatory’ image of how the steering capacity of governments might be deployed.
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