The impact of transitional regulatory reform on the power relations between the state, business, and regulators: A case study of Serbian regulatory reform (2005-2020)

Since the mid-2000s and its early days of transitional reform, Serbia has been implementing regulatory reform. This process has included the establishment and capacitation of independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) and an overhaul of the regulatory framework as part of a better regulation agenda. Fifteen years on, the time seems apt to review how the ongoing regulatory reform has impacted the autonomy of regulators, and their power relations vis-a-vis the state and businesses. The analysis draws on primary and secondary literature and interviews with informed stakeholders from regulators from several sectors. The focus is on exploring whether the changing institutional arrangements around the role of the state, business, and regulators in regulatory policies has led to a transformation of their power relations in exerting de facto influence over regulatory policy. Findings are discussed with reference to debates around factual vs legal independence of regulators, and wider debates around the changing nature of the regulatory state, particularly in contexts dominated by cultures of informality and traditionally strong state’s role in economy.