Rethinking and Expanding the Study of Administrative Rules : Report of the 2010 Red Tape Research Workshop

This document presents the views of the participants of a two day workshop discussing the future of red tape research. To the greatest extent possible, the authors have tried to accurately represent the consensus view that emerged. But as is in any discourse of a moderately large number of scholars, there will be claims that not all participants subscribe to, and aspects of the discussion that are not captured here. INTRODUCTION While the topic of red tape is of long-standing interest to both scholars and the public, it is only in the last two decades that scholars have begun to develop empirical knowledge on this topic. Scholars working in this area recently convened a workshop to consider a research agenda for the next decade. The 2010 Red Tape Research Workshop: Rethinking and Expanding the Study of Administrative Rules was hosted by the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and supported by the University of Wisconsin Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy, Center for European Studies, and European Union Center of Excellence. The meeting included more than 20 researchers and PhD students from 14 universities and five countries (see appendix 1 for a full list of participants). GOALS The aim of the meeting was to engage in an enthusiastic discussion about expanding and improving red tape research and to develop a promising future for collaboration. The red tape research community is a good example of how the sociology of science works, with researchers continually making small, informal steps toward better measures. The 2010 Red Tape Research Workshop offers the first opportunity to try to aim at broader planning that can move the field forward in a more concerted effort. Participants reviewed the development of red tape theory and research, identifying gaps in the field, as well as possible avenues for future research and funding opportunities. This included considering ways to improve measures, data, and methods researchers use, and identifying a core list of central questions that would form a 10 year research agenda for the field. The meeting also sought to more formally establish networks of interested researchers that go beyond US and UK based scholars, or scholars who consciously identify themselves as red-tape researchers