制度变迁与监管体制的演进:来自瑞士的证据

Institutional change and the evolution of the regulatory state:evidence from the Swiss case

本文探讨了瑞士监管体制的制度化(制度变化过程),原本期望这一变化能够特别平稳,但实际上有相当多结构上的改变。这一过程表现为在四个领域设立了独立监管机构,这四个领域分别是:银行和金融、电信、电力和竞争行业。本文使用斯特里克(Streeck)、锡伦(Thelen)和马奥尼(Mahoney)提出的理论框架,来探讨有关制度变化模式的假设,使用的研究方法是纵向案例内研究法。研究结果证实了部分预期,指出分层和置换是流行的变化模式。结论部分讨论了作为附加解释因素的制度变化的类型和方向。对实践工作者的启示本文检视了瑞士通过设立独立监管机构而实现的监管体制的制度发展。通过对银行和金融、电信、电力、竞争行业四个领域的独立机构化过程的分析,阐释了不同的变化模式。结果显示,与自由化的总体趋势相比,再监管的发展动向遵循截然不同的逻辑。并且,实证分析表明,在对以往自我监管的部门进行'积极'改革时,大都是引进外来模式设立独立监管机构;而在对以往的国有企业或公共监管部门进行改革时,则会根据已有的制度安排来设立监管机构。

This article examines institutional change in a case that was expected to be particularly resilient but showed considerable structural transformation:the institutionalization of the regulatory state in Swiuerland.This process is illustrated through the establishment of independent regulatory agencies(IRAs)in four areas:banking and finance;telecommunications;electricity;and competition.The theoretical framework developed by Streeck,Thelen and Mahoney is used to explore hypotheses about the modes of institutional change,with the methodology of diachronic within-case study.Results confirm only partially the expectations,pointing to layering and displacement as the prevalent modes of change.The concluding part discusses the type and the direction of change as additional explanatory factors.Points for practitioners This article examines the institutional development of the regulatory state in Switzerland through the establishment of independent regulatory agencies(IRAs).Different modes of change are illustrated through the analysis of the processes leading to agencification in four areas:banking and finance;telecommunication;electricity,and competition.Results suggest that the dynamics of re-regulation follow a quite different logic compared to the general trend towards liberalization.What is more,the empirical analysis indicates that independent regulatory agencies are mostly created by importing exogenous models in the case of the’positive’reform of previously self-regulated sectors,while they are established along existing institutional arrangements when reforming former state-owned enterprises or publicly regulated sectors.