Limits on Violence; Limits on Responsive Regulatory Theory

Responsive regulation is a general theory of how to steer the flow of events. This article seeks to understand when violence is and is not defensible as an enforcement escalation. It specifies limits on the claim of responsive regulatory theory that a tough enforcement peak to a regulatory pyramid helps drive regulation down to persuasion at the base of the pyramid. Those limits are about the counterproductive effects of violence at the peak of...