Delegation and Democratic Control: Can Independent Regulatory Agencies Become Too Independent?

Mainstream research in the political economy of bureaucracy considers the political independence of public regulatory agencies as positive per se. Independent regulatory agencies and other non-majoritarian organizations are regarded to be more immune against political interference. What is yet widely neglected is that such politically independent agencies may get 'too independent' and may act in ways that are not in the interest of policy makers and citizens. For example, their political independence may empower regulatory agencies to expand their competences and sphere of influence on their own initiative; such competence expansion is often accompanied by an expansion of personnel and other resources. The purpose of this article is to call greater attention to this neglected aspect of agency behavior and specific type of regulatory expansion, and to discuss a number of mechanisms that seem appropriate to 'tame' politically independent agencies.