Lange, Bettina (1996) Empirical compliance : a study of waste management regulation in the U.K. and Germany. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis deals with the concept of compliance.
Its main argument is that the concept of formal
compliance has shortcomings and therefore needs to be
complemented with a concept of empirical compliance. At
the heart of the concept of compliance is the
relationship between rules and social practices. This
relationship is conceptualized as involving a "gap", in
the case of formal non - compliance, or as indicating the
fulfilment of legal requirements in the case of formal
compliance. Instead, as the concept of empirical
compliance shows, rules and social practices can be
linked through a process of integration. This changes our
understanding of a concept of law. Formal concepts of law
which are based on formal legal rules have to be modified
in order to understand empirical compliance. An empirical
concept of law which is based both on enforement
officers' and the regulated companies' definitions of
what is considered as normative in everyday practices has
to be adopted. I discuss commercial aims, technology,
information ani the formal law as normative contexts
which shape a notion of empirical law. The thesis adopts
a social construction approach by exploring how actors in
the field establish and manipulate the various normative
constraints under which they work.
The research explores empirical compliance in the
area of waste management regulation in the U.I(. and
Germany. It draws on qualitative data on the
implementation of waste management regulation in the
everyday practices of handling waste at two waste
treatment plants and the day to day enforcement
activities of two waste regulation authorities. The
thesis focusses on the behaviour of staff on the lowest
level of the organizational hierarchy in both the waste
treatment plants and the waste regulation authorities.
The main research techniques employed were observation
and participant observation over a three months period
with each of the four organizations involved in the
research.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Refuse and refuse disposal -- Law and legislation -- Great Britain, Refuse and refuse disposal -- Law and legislation -- Germany, Refuse disposal industry -- Great Britain -- Case studies, Refuse disposal industry -- Germany -- Case studies, Compliance
Official Date:	December 1996
Dates:	Date Event December 1996 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	School of Law
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Whelan, Christopher J.
Sponsors:	Gottlieb Daimler- und Karl Benz-Stiftung ; Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC)
Extent:	xii, 511 leaves
Language:	eng

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