Abstract
This contribution draws attention to one of the challenges for contemporary public law thought: the emergence of ‘problem-solving thinking’ among public actors, alongside or in competition with, the more traditional ‘competence-oriented’ thinking. It is then proposed to supplement constitutional analysis with regulatory analysis so as to include ‘alternative mechanisms’ with the capacity to aid the Rechtsstaat. These mechanisms could be based on ‘community’ or ‘competition’ as alternative control modes.