IMI’s Dr Jonathan Westrup has written a chapter entitled ‘Regulatory Governance’ in the newly published book Irish Governance in Crisis. The book which was edited by Niamh Hardiman and published by Manchester University Press was launched yesterday by Brendan Howlin, TD, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.
“While the cost of failures of regulation are all very clear, we need to analyse why they occurred in the first place so as to avoid making the same mistakes in the future. This chapter, and indeed the book, argues that reform must occur at a systemic level as well as at an organisational level, if is to be meaningful,” commented Dr Westrup.
Dr. Jonathan Westrup is the Head of Graduate Studies at the IMI, Programme Director of the IMI Diploma in Strategy & Innovation and the Senior Executive Programme. He also leads and teaches on a number of custom programmes for some of Ireland’s leading companies and is the Programme Director for the IMI Diploma in Regulatory Management.
Jonathan’s teaching focus is on business strategy with a particular interest in corporate governance and organisational performance. He has an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School and a doctorate in comparative political economy from Boston University. Prior to joining the IMI, he was a Research Fellow at the IIIS in Trinity College Dublin. He has also taught at Boston University.
Irish Governance in Crisis argues “that there is a crisis in the way the Irish state is structured and in the manner in which it relates to the main organised interests in the society. Through a set of linked policy studies, it shows how sectional benefits can be prioritised where public interest considerations are weakly articulated and debated. Policy choices may entail unintended perverse consequences that, once embedded, can be difficult to alter. The book traces these weaknesses to the dominance of parties, the permeability of the political system to sectional interests, and the weakness of democratic accountability.” Institutional design matters according to the central argument of the book and this is even more important in today’s globalised world.
More information on the book can be found on the Manchester University Press Website here.