Regulatory Pragmatism, Legal Knowledge and Compliance with Law in Areas of State Weakness
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4083994 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Susan L Ostermann (0000-0003-4030-7173, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1132-1166 |
| Publication date | 2019-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Law & Society Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0023-9216 • E-ISSN: 1540-5893 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1111/lasr.12432 |
| OpenAlex | W2990474848 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 22 |
The literature suggests that compliance with law is unlikely in areas of state weakness absent additional state capacity. Utilizing three novel data sets collected in adjacent districts in India and Nepal, this article demonstrates that weak states can significantly increase compliance by fostering accurate legal knowledge-something the literature often assumes is widespread. This assumption is problematic because principal-agent problems prevent many weak states from behaving consistently; target populations often lack education and competent legal advice and struggle to learn about the law via observation. States that employ regulatory pragmatism, however, may overcome this challenge; they do so by designing implementation strategies for on-the-ground realities. I investigate two such efforts-delegated enforcement and information dissemination through local leaders. The data indicate that strategies consistent with regulatory pragmatism, in contrast to those that are legally doctrinaire or deterrence based significantly increase legal knowledge and compliance, even where the state is locally weak
Compliance (psychology · Computer security · Deterrence theory · Enforcement · Epistemology · Law and economics · Law enforcement · Political science · Pragmatism · Principal (computer security · Sociology · State (computer science · Weakness · Computer Science · Corruption and Economic Development · Law · Law, Economics, and Judicial Systems · Medicine · Psychology · Regulation and Compliance Studies · Social Psychology
Governing the Commons
The authority of lawEssays on law and morality
The Motivation and Bias of Bureaucrats
The Contributions of the Economics of Information to Twentieth Century Economics
Information and the Change in the Paradigm in Economics
Motivation for Compliance with Environmental Regulations
The congressional-bureaucratic system
Secrecy
The Deterrent Effect of Perceived Certainty and Severity of Punishment Revisited
"The Market for "Lemons
Noncompliance in Environmental Reporting
Rule of Law against the Odds
Tax Compliance as the Result of a Psychological Tax Contract
Reconsidering Styles of Regulatory Enforcement
General Deterrence and Corporate Environmental Behavior
Compliance with Legal Regulations
A Typology of Implementation Behaviors of Street-level Bureaucrats
| Citations per year | 1.2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |