Regulatory intermediaries and value conflicts in policy implementation: Religious organizations and life-and-death policies in Belgium

Irina Ciornei, Eva-Maria Euchner, Michalina Preisner, Ilay Yesil

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This article makes important contributions to governance research by studying the implementation of policies with high potential for goal incongruence between intermediaries and regulators. Building on a regulatory intermediation framework and prevailing theories from organizational institutionalism, we propose an original typology that classifies intermediaries' strategies for coping with challenging regulations. Furthermore, we explain the choice of these strategies based on intermediaries' value systems, the degree of interdependency with the regulator, and policy ambiguity. The empirical strategy is based on the case of Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim religious organizations engaged in the implementation of abortion and euthanasia policies in Belgium. These latter constitute a typical case of policy implementation that prompts value conflicts between permissive official regulations and intermediaries' conservative values on life-and-death issues.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1076-1093
Number of pages18
JournalRegulation & Governance
Volume17
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 18 Oct 2022

Keywords

  • Morality policies
  • Regulatory intermediaries
  • Religious organizations

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