The resilience of the regulatory state in an age of polycrisis
La resiliencia del Estado regulador en una era de policrisis
A resiliência do Estado regulador em uma era de policrise
Abstract (en)
The world of ‘polycrisis’ poses fundamental questions about the resilience of the regulatory state. This paper introduces the core challenges of the polycrisis era for the regulatory state. Particular attention is paid to debates surrounding resilience and how regulatory regimes may develop capacity for resilience. The paper considers resilience in terms of information processing capacity. It identifies four possible futures for the regulatory state in an age of polycrisis, but notes that such futures depend on assumptions regarding the resourcefulness of regulators and the regulated. It suggests that building resilience into regulatory capacity requires continuous mediation and conversation, rather than relying on fixed blueprints.
Abstract (pt_BR)
O mundo da “policrise” levanta questões fundamentais sobre a resiliência do Estado regulador. Este artigo apresenta os principais desafios da era da policrise para o Estado regulador. Dá-se atenção especial aos debates sobre resiliência e como os regimes regulatórios podem desenvolver capacidade de resiliência. O artigo considera a resiliência em termos de capacidade de processamento de informações. Identifica quatro futuros possíveis para o Estado regulador em uma era de policrise, mas observa que esses futuros dependem de suposições sobre os recursos disponíveis para reguladores e regulados. Sugere-se que construir resiliência na capacidade regulatória requer mediação e diálogo contínuos, em vez de depender de modelos fixos.
Abstract (es)
El mundo de la “policrisis” plantea preguntas fundamentales sobre la resiliencia del Estado regulador. Este artículo presenta los principales desafíos de la era de la policrisis para el Estado regulador. Se presta especial atención a los debates en torno a la resiliencia y cómo los regímenes regulatorios pueden desarrollar capacidad para ser resilientes. El artículo considera la resiliencia en términos de capacidad de procesamiento de información. Identifica cuatro posibles futuros para el Estado regulador en una era de policrisis, pero señala que dichos futuros dependen de las suposiciones sobre la capacidad de recursos tanto de los reguladores como de los regulados. Se sugiere que construir resiliencia en la capacidad regulatoria requiere una mediación y conversación continuas, en lugar de una dependencia en planes predefinidos.
References
Bach, T., & Wegrich, K. (Eds.). (2019). The blind spots of public bureaucracy and the politics of non-coordination. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76672-0
Bakke, E., & Sitter, N. (2022). The EU’s enfants terribles: Democratic backsliding in Central Europe since 2010. Perspectives on Politics, 20(1), 22–37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592720001292
Beck, U. (1992). The risk society. Sage.
Beckert, J. (2024). Verkaufte Zukunft. Suhrkamp.
Black, J., & Baldwin, R. (2010). Responsive risk-based regulation. Law and Policy, 32(2), 181–213. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9930.2010.00318.x
Boin, A. (2019). The transboundary crisis: Why we are unprepared and the road ahead. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 27(1), 94–99. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.12241
Boin, A., Ekengren, M., & Rhinard, M. (2021). Understanding the creeping crisis. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70692-0
Boin, A., Ekengren, M., & Rhinard, M. (2020). Hiding in plain sight: Conceptualizing the creeping crisis. Risk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy, 11(2), 116–138. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/rhc3.12193
Boin, A., & Lodge, M. (2021). Responding to the COVID-19 crisis: A principled or pragmatist approach? Journal of European Public Policy, 28(8), 1131–1152. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2021.1942155
Boin, A., & Lodge, M. (2016). Designing resilient institutions for transboundary crisis management. Public Administration, 94, 289–298. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12264
Boin, A., & van Eeten, M. J. G. (2013). The resilient organization. Public Management Review, 15(3), 429–445. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2013.769856
Cabane, L., & Lodge, M. (2024). Un-solvable crises? Differential implementation and transboundary crisis management in the EU. West European Politics, 47(3), 491–514. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2023.2282284
Carpenter, D. (2010). Institutional strangulation: Bureaucratic politics and financial reform in the Obama administration. Perspectives on Politics, 8(3), 825–846. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592710002070
Chalmers, D. (2005). Risk, anxiety and the European mediation of the politics of life. European Law Review, 30(5), 649–674.
Coglianese, C., & Lazer, D. (2003). Management-based regulation: Prescribing private management to achieve public goals. Law & Society Review, 37(4), 691–730. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0023-9216.2003.03703001.x
Cohen, S. (2011). Folk devils and moral panics (Original work published 1972). Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203828250
Cunha, B., & Lodge, M. (2025). Contesting regulatory capacity. Public Administration & Development. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.2108 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.2108
Dussauge-Laguna, M. I., Elizondo, A., González, C. I., & Lodge, M. (2024). Regulation and development: Theoretical contributions and empirical lessons from Latin America. Regulation & Governance, 18(2), 331–347. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12584
Ellis Erle, C. (2024). The Anthropocene condition: Evolving social-ecological transformations. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 379, 20220255. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0255 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0255
Head, B. (2022). Wicked problems in public policy. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94580-0
Henig, D., & Knight, D. M. (2023). Polycrisis: Prompts for an emerging worldview. Anthropology Today, 39, 3–6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12793
Hood, C. (1976). The limits of administration. Wiley.
Hood, C., & Jackson, M. (1991a). New perspectives in civil disaster management. Canberra Bulletin of Public Administration, 64, 13–16.
Hood, C., & Jackson, M. (1991b). The new public management: A recipe for disaster. Canberra Bulletin of Public Administration, 64, 16–24.
Hood, C., & Lodge, M. (2005). Pavlovian innovation, pet solutions and economizing on rationality? Politicians and dangerous dogs. In J. Black, M. Lodge, & M. Thatcher (Eds.), Regulatory innovation (pp. 133–153). Edward Elgar. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781845427979.00013
Klein, E., & Thompson, D. (2025). Abundance. Avid Reader.
Lawrence, M., Homer-Dixon, T., Janzwood, S., Rockström, J., Renn, O., & Donges, J. F. (2024). Global polycrisis: The causal mechanisms of crisis entanglement. Global Sustainability, 7, e6. https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2024.1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2024.1
LaPorte, T. (2007). Anticipating rude surprises. In L. Jones (Ed.), Communicable crises (pp. 25–44). Information Age Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-60752-807-420251003
LaPorte, T., & Consolini, P. (1991). Working in practice but not in theory: Theoretical challenges of “high reliability organisations”. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 1(1), 19–47.
Lodge, M. (2024). The transformation of the regulatory state. In G. Bockaert, A. Hondeghem, T. Steen, & S. Van de Walle (Eds.), Futures of the public sector (pp. 211–225). Leuven University Press.
Lodge, M. (2019). Accounting for blind spots. In T. Bach & K. Wegrich (Eds.), The blind spots of public bureaucracy and the politics of non-coordination (pp. 29–48). Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76672-0_2
Lodge, M. (2013). Crises, resources and the state. Political Studies Review, 11(3), 378–390. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1478-9302.12005
Lodge, M. (2009). The public management of risk. Review of Policy Research, 26(4), 395–408. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-1338.2009.00391.x
Lodge, M., & Hood, C. (2002). Pavlovian policy responses to media feeding frenzies? Dangerous dogs regulation in comparative perspective. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 10(1), 1–13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.00176
Lodge, M., & Wegrich, K. (Eds.). (2014). The problem-solving capacities of the modern state. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198716365.001.0001
Majone, G. (1997). From the positive to the regulatory state. Journal of Public Policy, 17(2), 139–167. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X00003524
March, J., Sproull, L., & Tamuz, M. (1991). Learning from samples of one or fewer. Organization Science, 2(1), 1–13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2.1.1
Mazzucato, M. (2018). Mission-oriented innovation policies. Industrial and Corporate Change, 27(5), 803–815. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dty034
Morin, E., & Kern, A.-B. (1993). Terre-patrie. Éditions du Seuil.
Office for Students. (2025). Regulatory advice 24: Guidance related to freedom of speech. https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/1mvnscrl/regulatory-advice-24-freedom-of-speech-guidance.pdf
Perrow, C. (1984). Normal accidents. Princeton University Press.
Pidgeon, N., & O’Leary, T. (2000). Man-made disasters: Why technology and organisations (sometimes) fail. Safety Science, 34(1–2), 15–30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0925-7535(00)00004-7
Radkau, J. (2017). Geschichte der Zukunft. Carl Hanser Verlag.
Rittel, H., & Webber, M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences, 4(2), 155–169. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01405730
Rosenthal, U., Boin, A., & Comfort, L. (2001). Managing crises. Charles C Thomas Publishers.
Seyd, B. (2025). A crisis of crisis management: The polycrisis, the organisation of pessimism, and the defensive turn. European Journal of Social Theory. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310251336133 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310251336133
Tucker, P. (2019). Unelected power: The quest for legitimacy in central banking and the regulatory state. Princeton University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvdmx0qh
Vaughan, D. (2005). Organizational rituals of risk and error. In B. Hutter & M. Power (Eds.), Organizational encounters with risk (pp. 33–66). Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511488580.002
Weick, K., & Sutcliffe, K. (2007). Managing the unexpected. John Wiley & Sons.
Wildavsky, A. (1988). Searching for safety. Transaction Books.
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Martin Lodge
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Los contenidos de la revista se distribuyen bajo la licencia Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional (CC BY-NC-4.0), que permite a los usuarios copiar, usar, difundir, transmitir y exponer públicamente los contenidos, siempre y cuando se cite la autoría (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0).