Works really well, and doing nothing is exactly why western societies are fucked up.

New generations do whatever they want and do not face any consequences.

Have you seen how much of a shithole France became due to street criminality and teenagers attacking people ?

The best way to handle a bully is to fight them tooth and nail even if you're going to get beaten up or you get suspended from school. If you keep fighting them the bullying will stop, and you will also gain some self-esteem.

I'm no fan of caning or physical punishment for crimes, but isn't that how a lot of bullying ends? The victim snaps, the bully gets beaten up or injured in some way and the latter finds an easier target to go after?

At the end of the day, a bully picks on those they perceive to not be a threat, whether that's a school bully using physical violence or a copyright/patent troll harassing individual creators and small companies. Being forced to go against someone with more resources or who can inflict serious damage against the aggressor is how a lot of bullies get shut down.

So, a regulating force must necessarily be of the same nature ?

You can never fight against a bully with words.

The only real way for a kid in school to stop being bullied is for him to challange or beat up his bully.

Nothing else works.

This but unironically.