The interaction of private and public regulatory governance: The case of association-led voluntary aviation safety programs

The complex and globalized nature of many industries has led to a global governance deficit that has resulted in the rise of self-regulation by private firms. Despite well-developed body of literature, we know little about the interaction of private regulation and public governance. The questions this paper addresses are: How do private self-regulatory programs either fill a vacuum of regulation or complement existing regulatory structures, and how do these programs support or crowd out the development of government regulatory programs? This paper addresses these questions by developing case studies of internal audit, voluntary reporting, and data analysis programs operated by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The results suggest that when there is a congruence of goals between industry and government, private regulatory programs can complement or even replace existing public sector regulatory regimes. Additionally, the results suggest that successful private self-regulatory programs can often be threatened by competing public programs.