Regulation and Deregulation from Legal Theory to the Practical Case of the Financial Sector Nowadays

The two great challenges for any authority are to what extent and how to intervene in thefunctioning of the society. These challenges originate both in the world of ideologies, defining the type ofstate or authority based on its propensity for regulation, and in the technical expertise of technocraticmanagement that can identify the “good practice” and “good governance” features. Both policy sources arenecessary and legitimate. The ideological sources help support a representative mandate obtained by anelected power, being validated by citizens’ vote, while the technical ones contribute to optimising theefficiency of the public option by managing it in an appropriate manner. To set a simple example, if theideological option is in favour of maintaining a company under state ownership, then the technical optionmay be to ensure a competency-based management controlled solely according to performance criteria. Ifthe ideological option promotes the privatisation of a state-owned company, then the technical option mayseek to ensure a privatisation procedure that should maximise the public benefit (through price, othercontractual terms, enhanced market competition, clauses or measures to protect consumers, etc.)