Regulation Theories in Retrospect and Prospect.

This chapter critically assesses the regulation approach to the critique of political economy. It starts with the theoretical background to regulation theories; moves on to compare the main approaches and their various fields of application; and then offers some methodological and epistemological criticisms of the leading schools. Then come some more general methodological remarks on the object and subject of regulation and some specific comments on one of the weakest areas of regulation theory - its account of the state. Thus this chapter focuses on methodology and general theory rather than empirical analysis