“The new regulatory regime: The institutional design of telecommunications regulation at the national level”

Some political scientists have been exploring the emergence of the regulatory state and argue that regulatory structures are ‘institutionally downloaded.’ Drawing on this debate, this paper argues for a more differentiated view and analyses the developmental path towards new regulatory regimes in the utilities in more depth. States can opt for a variety of institutional designs such as ministries, administrative agencies, competition authorities, self-regulation, or regulatory agencies. Using diffusion theory and historical institutionalism in reference to cases of telecommunications regulation, explanations are offered for why both the Office of Telecommunications in Britain and Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications and Posts in Germany institutionalized in accord with the regulatory agency model. Comparing the institutional design in a two-level analysis demonstrates that the two regulators show convergence on a macro-organizational level (overall designing structure), but divergence on a micro-organizational level (internal administrative procedures)