Pandemic Crisis
Nigel P. Somerset · 2023
This chapter considers the incredible situation of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on regulatory relationships, along with the developments and adaptations organisations and regulators around the world made as they responded to the challenges faced. Using elements of the framework to demonstrate how regulatory relationships operate in times of challenge, it considers how in crisis, rules, convention, and practice can be re-written. Furthermore, we see how useful the regulatory ecosystem approach can be in identifying multiple impacts across the field of regulatory relationships, as the ecosystem lit up with both regulators and organisations adapting to the crisis. In a global fight against a pandemic, we consider how objectives aligned, the mode of operation shifted, the importance of trust elevated, stakeholder maps changed, and, ultimately, regulatory relationship responded with pace, increased proactiveness, creativity, and flexibility. In summary, in the worst of times, we saw some of the best of times in terms of how regulatory relationships can work collegiately, achieve more as a collective, and work toward a greater good in a successful and pragmatic way.