The Politics of Rulemaking in the United States

Abstract

Rulemaking is a critical part of American government and governance. This article reviews the political underpinnings of modern rulemaking. Specifically, it highlights the process and impact of agency regulations, as well as the key tools used by the legislature, elected executive, and courts to oversee the rulemaking process. The article also reviews who participates in the rulemaking process, as well as who influences regulatory content. Finally, new directions in regulatory policymaking are explored, including data collection advancements, as well as the potential role for guidance documents as replacements for more traditionally issued notice and comment regulations.

The tip of the iceberg – interest group behaviour in rule drafting and consultations during EU agency rulemaking

“…The study also has relevance beyond the EU. Whereas US rulemaking is determined by the federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA) (Yackee, 2019), EU agencies lack fixed procedures beyond small provisions in founding documents and adopt their own approach to rulemaking (Chiti, 2013). For the broader literature on regulatory rulemaking, this paper therefore shows what procedures regulators adopt at their own discretion.…”

The Very Best People: President Trump and the Management of Executive Personnel

“…Conservatives engage in political efforts to limit and eliminate regulations and reduce enforcement of existing regulations. Presidents from Richard Nixon forward have sought to centralize review of proposed regulations (and related activities), and subsequent administrations have imposed additional procedural requirements on new rules (Moe 1985; Potter 2019; Tomkin 1998; Yackee 2019). These efforts often coincide with an agnosticism or outright hostility toward the agencies, programs, and people that comprise the executive establishment.…”

Does consultation count for corruption? The causal relations in the EU-28

“…The specialized literature provides few insights on this specific causal relationship 1hence we have to build expectations drawing on more general literature on rule-making. US studies are often dedicated to pressure groups' influence on rule-making (Yackee, 2019;Yackee & Yackee, 2006) and, more recently, to the limits of consultation in reaching out to relevant stakeholders (Farina & Newhart, 2013). Costa et al (2019) approach the problem of stakeholder engagement in rule-making from a different perspective and look into the relationship between public comments and the use of science in regulatory impact assessment.…”