HOW CONTEXT MATTERS: REGULATORY IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION.

Regulatory reforms in Europe have focused on ‘good regulation’, ‘better law-making’, and, most recently, ‘quality of regulatory tools and institutions’. This paper deals with the main instrument used by governments to achieve good regulatory governance, that is, regulatory impact assessment (RIA). The article shows that the diffusion of RIA programmes in the European Union (EU) disguises considerable variability in terms of principles, processes, and results. The lack of convergence is explained by contextual variables. The argument here is not the trivial one that ?context matters? in the diffusion of RIA, but how it matters in terms of dimensions. Hence the paper breaks down ?context? into four dimensions, that is, stakeholders, institutions, models of the policy process, and legitimacy. The paper shows how the four dimensions explain the variability in RIA activities and outcomes throughout the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]