How can regulators effectively govern tech giants that possess superior expertise and adapt rapidly to technological change? This talk outlines a tentative research agenda exploring two promising solutions: enabling regulation, which emphasises flexible, cooperative approaches that leverage firms’ capacities, and dynamic regulation, which prioritises adaptability to evolving conditions.

While theoretically compelling, both approaches face significant political, technical, and institutional hurdles, including public demands for tough measures, limited regulatory capacity, and the political will required to adapt formal rules. By examining the regulation of digital platform market power in the EU, UK, and US since the late 1990s, this agenda investigates policy design, implementation, and reform to assess how regulatory strategies vary across jurisdictions and over time.

Inviting feedback on both its focus and methods, this project aims to clarify the conditions under which enabling and dynamic approaches can address the governance challenges posed by tech giants, offering insights for scholars and policymakers alike.

About the speaker

Bernardo Rangoni is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor, tenured) in the Department of Politics at the University of York, where he leads the Postgraduate Programs in Public Policy and convenes the Public Policy Research Cluster. His research focuses on governance and regulation, drawing on experience at institutions like the European University Institute (Max Weber Fellow) and the London School of Economics (Fellow in Political Economy), with visiting fellowships at Yale Law School and the EUI.