Public Interest Advocacy and the Regulatory Process

Abstract

The regulatory agencies are, in a sense, the fore most institutionalized advocates of the public interest. A sub stantial body of opinion holds that their failure to live up to this characterization is evidence of other failures—those of Congress, the press, and other groups considered responsible for monitoring the performance of the regulatory process. Public interest advocates, led by Ralph Nader, perceive them selves as fulfilling this role of criticizing and reforming the regulators as well as the regulated. The advocates, many of them lawyers, argue that due process safeguards have failed to provide adequate access for private citizens or adequate protection for the public interest. They contend that regula tory agencies are most responsive to the regulated industry and to their own internal bureaucratic imperatives. Public interest advocates attempt to provide a public service by making issues understandable and by providing increased scrutiny of public decision-making. Publicity, then, is a major tool for public interest advocates. It may be the most important one they command, outstripping the significance of class actions and other legal remedies. Ralph Nader both inspires and repre sents the movement, although his personal visibility and credi bility make his work singularly effective. Taken as a whole, the public interest advocacy movement represents a wave of re form activity which may affect the political process. It re mains to be seen, however, whether this movement will have a significant effect on political outcomes or if it is simply a fad which will pass.