Deregulation, Welfare State and the Process of Globalisation

One of the most important factors in the crisis of production of law by the state public powers is, together with the supra and infra-production of legal norms phenomena, the increasing protagonism of groups and corporations, mainly economic, in the processes of creation of norms. It can be presented as an example of legal pluralism, which is of especial interest when explaining the "deregulation" phenomenon. In spite of what can be suggested by this expression, deregulation is not equivalent to anomia (the absence of rules), rather it is considered as the displacement of interventionist norms, existing in the Welfare State, by other norms whose function is to guarantee private autonomy and free competition between those who operate in the market. Deregulation is usually justified in terms of market efficiency, but also in terms of greater legitimacy of public bodies. Although deregulation is becoming increasingly important in the sphere of state law, it is in the international field where its presence is undoubtedly most noticeable. Furthermore, it could be said that deregulation is the paradigmatic normative technique found in global society (for instance, the new lex mercatoria): the economic agents who operate on a global scale need uniform norms which should be in accordance with scientific and technological breakthroughs, norms which should provide legal certainty and protect commercial transactions from delinquency, and they especially need norms which do not obstruct the market. This is precisely the type of law which results from deregulation.