How much politics goes into the development, implementation, evaluation, and reform of regulation? This question has been at the forefront of regulatory scholarship for over four decades. This paper maps how scholars of public administration in general and regulatory scholars in particular have theorized the politics of regulation.

This research paper maps, explores, and interrogates the New Zealand Government Regulatory Practice Initiative (G-REG), as an example to obtain a better understanding of whether a standardised program can help to nurture and increase the professionalism of a community of public servants.

Building on a systematic evidence review of peer-reviewed articles published since 1992, the aim of the research paper is to assist executives, managers and frontline workers in regulatory organisations and units who are interested in responsive regulation.

The pervasive impact of regulation on society, coupled with regulatory failures often attributed to the performance of regulators, calls for the professionalisation of regulation as a practice, vocation, and discipline. To this end, governments and non-governmental organisations around the world have begun to explore pathways to build out the regulatory profession.

This research paper presents findings from a broad scoping of the international academic literature on the use of systems thinking and systems science in regulatory governance and practice.