Conference Regulating the Public Interest, 17 November 2009

The Groningen Centre for Law and Governance , in cooperation with the Department of Legal Theory and the Department of Administrative Law & Public Administration of the University of Groningen, organized a one-day international conference in Groningen on 17 November 2009 marking the official launch of the GCL.

The topic of the conference was ‘Regulating the Public Interest’ . At this conference two new books were presented in manuscript. The first book is 'Self-Regulation and the Future of the Regulatory State' edited by Marc Hertogh & Pauline Westerman. The other one is 'Social security as a public interest', edited by Gijs Vonk & Albertjan Tollenaar. Both books deal with the same topic: the rise of the regulatory state and the changing role of public and private regulation.

Chapters of both books have been discussed in the parallel streams on the conference. It examined issues such as: What is regulation? What are public interests that call for government responsibility? What can be regarded as the public interest in our social security systems? What are the mechanisms to safeguard these interests and what is the role of public and private regulation in this respect? The answers to these questions demand a multidisciplinary approach as they encompass legal, philosophical, political, economic and sociological aspects.

Prof. Giandomenico Majone (European University Institute) delivered a key note speech. Other international speakers were: Prof. Julia Black (London School of Economics), Dr. George S.-P. Katrougalos, (Demokritos University of Thrace), Dr. Mauro Zamboni (University of Stockholm) and Prof. Johan Put (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven).

Click here for the content of the books.

Click here for some photographs of the conference.

Digital conference folder (Dutch)