Book review: John Braithwaite and Bina D’Costa. Cascades of Violence: War, Crime and Peacebuilding across South Asia

John Braithwaite and Bina D’Costa. Cascades of Violence: War, Crime and Peacebuilding across South Asia. Acton: ANU Press. 2018. 683 pages.

Conclusion

In their landmark book, Not Just Deserts, John Braithwaite and Philip Pettit cautioned that “[w]hen you play the game of criminal justice on the field of retribution . . . you give full rein to those who play to the sense of normality of the majority, urging them to tyrannize the minority.”...

Ian Ayres and John Braithwaite,

This chapter focuses onResponsive Regulation: Transcending the Deregulation Debate(1992), a book by Ian Ayres and John Braithwaite that occupies a prominent place in the field of regulation. Combining law and economics with socio-legal studies, the book deals with a dynamic and gradual sanctioning regime known as the enforcement pyramid and favors the inclusion of third-party actors. This chapter considers the intellectual background and central argument ofResponsive Regulationbefore assessing its overall contribution. It then examines three themes that are central to the book: the role of inspectors and their enforcement strategies, the importance of discretionary decision-making, and the role of regulatee motivations. Finally, it discusses some criticisms ofResponsive Regulationand the immediate responses to them.