| dc.description.abstract | Among the tools available to enhance the rationality of policy formulation, Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) has captured the attention of many scholars for its potential to enhance the accountability and transparency of regulatory governance. Although almost all EU and OECD member states have adopted RIA, only a sub- set of small-n case comparative studies on institutional, political and administrative impact have been conducted. By filling this gap in the literature and proposing the rigorous operationalisation of concepts such as adoption, extent of implementation, and learning, this thesis ascertains the extent of interdependency among governments in their choices concerning an innovation of regulatory governance. Methodologically, the dissertation draws on a multi-method approach, consisting of qualitative analysis to track the process of institutionalisation, as well as event history analysis, based on a dataset covering thirty-eight countries from 1968 to 2006.
The empirical findings show that diffusion is a multifaceted process. In the decision to adopt RIA, the role of the OECD in translating, packaging, and promoting such administrative innovation coexists with previous innovations and other administrative variables. Yet the impact of interdependency is marginal in the successive phases of implementation and evaluation. Earliness of adoption is the major predictor of the extent of implementation. There is little evidence of interaction and communication among adopters on the subject of their learning experience. On balance, this regulatory governance innovation is a domain of symbolic and rhetorical meanings that is not adequately supported by administrative capacity. | en_GB |
