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Crowdsourcing and regulatory reviews: A new way of challenging red tape in British government?

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  • Martin Lodge
  • Kai Wegrich

Abstract

Much has been said about the appeal of digital government devices to enhance consultation on rulemaking. This paper explores the most ambitious attempt by the UK central government so far to draw on “crowdsourcing” to consult and act on regulatory reform, the “Red Tape Challenge.” We find that the results of this exercise do not represent any major change to traditional challenges to consultation processes. Instead, we suggest that the extensive institutional arrangements for crowdsourcing were hardly significant in informing actual policy responses: neither the tone of the crowdsourced comments, the direction of the majority views, nor specific comments were seen to matter. Instead, it was processes within the executive that shaped the overall governmental responses to this initiative. The findings, therefore, provoke wider debates about the use of social media in rulemaking and consultation exercises.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Lodge & Kai Wegrich, 2015. "Crowdsourcing and regulatory reviews: A new way of challenging red tape in British government?," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(1), pages 30-46, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:9:y:2015:i:1:p:30-46
    DOI: 10.1111/rego.12048
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Martin Lodge & Kai Wegrich, 2009. "High-quality regulation: its popularity, its tools and its future," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 145-152, May.
    2. Coglianese, Cary, 2006. "Citizen Participation in Rulemaking: Past, Present, and Future," Working Paper Series rwp06-027, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    3. Beierle, Thomas C., 2003. "Discussing the Rules: Electronic Rulemaking and Democratic Deliberation," Discussion Papers 10681, Resources for the Future.
    4. Alon Peled, 2011. "When transparency and collaboration collide: The USA Open Data program," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(11), pages 2085-2094, November.
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    6. Alon Peled, 2011. "When transparency and collaboration collide: The USA Open Data program," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(11), pages 2085-2094, November.
    7. Beierle, Thomas, 2003. "Discussing the Rules: Electronic Rulemaking and Democratic Deliberation," RFF Working Paper Series dp-03-22, Resources for the Future.
    8. Michael Gibbons & David Parker, 2012. "Impact assessments and better regulation: the role of the UK's Regulatory Policy Committee," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 257-264, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Berliner, Daniel, 2023. "Information Processing in Participatory Governance," SocArXiv snerh, Center for Open Science.

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