Adaptive Regulation
A Possible Model for Regulation and Innovation in Personal Social Services
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Abstract
The provision of personal social services in Israel has recently changed, with many services now outsourced to non-governmental organizations. This shift requires the strengthening of regulatory mechanisms, yet the unique characteristics of personal social services make it difficult to create an efficient regulatory framework. By linking insights derived from the literature on regulation to the specific features of these services, this article presents a conceptual model for their regulation. The model incorporates aspects of innovation in the public sector, including a more comprehensive learning and collaborative process and a new rhetorical language. The proposed regulatory approach consists of three stages: mapping, the design of regulatory instruments, and implementation and evaluation. Applied to the Israeli experience here, this approach may also be relevant for other countries.
Contributor Notes
LIHI LAHAT is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Administration and Public Policy at Sapir Academic College and an Affiliate Associate Professor at the Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies, Concordia University, Montreal. Her papers have been published in journals including Policy Sciences, Social Policy & Administration, International Review of Administrative Sciences, Journal of European Social Policy, and Poverty & Public Policy. Her areas of research include policymakers’ perceptions of poverty, the regulation of personal social services, the trust and well-being of public officials, uses of time and policy, and collaborative governance. E-mail: lahat_l@mail.sapir.ac.il
YEKOUTIEL SABAH is a Research Associate in the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Coordinator of the National Statistical System of Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics. Previously, he held the position of Head of the Research, Planning, and Training Division at Israel's Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Social Services. He holds a PhD and a BSW from the Hebrew University's School of Social Work, an MA from the Hebrew University's School of Education, and an MPA from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. E-mail: coutys@cbs.gov.il