036_LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT_2017_665

J.K. GIBSON-GRAHAM

localities and regions are presented with no calories consumed, longevity, etc.) will still
alternative but to hitch themselves to the display vast disparities across regions of the
engine of capitalist growth or, where this is globe. But there is no projection of a singular
not feasible, for people to move to successful pathway towards improved well-being.Devel-
regions. From a post-development perspec- opment objectives can be opened up to local
tive the report’s hopeful adherence to world assessment and it becomes possible to imag-
trickle-down seems anachronistic, its blind ine many different development pathways
belief in the market foolish and the failure to that build on local assets, experience and
account for the environmental consequences expectations.
of continued growth, as we have known it,
immoral. So what might post-development While the discourse of capitalist hegem-
offer instead? ony is rampant in economic science, the
murky reality is that most of the world is sus-
Local and regional post- tained by diverse economic relations, many
development in theory of which cannot be framed as capitalist.
Within development studies this heteroge-
A post-development approach to local and neity of economic relations in the global
regional development starts from the premise south, or majority world, is a major focus
that space has not already been colonized by of the sustainable livelihoods approach
capitalism.When the prevalence, density and (Chambers and Conway 1992; Scoones
efficiency of capitalist economic relations are 1998). In both the majority and minority
not used as the gauge of development we are world the economic identity of localities and
free to apprehend social space in many dif- regions can be appreciated using a weak
ferent ways. Places are not situated within theory of economy that inventories the vari-
a hierarchy of valuation in which cultures ety of enterprise types and forms of labour,
are modern or primitive and economies property, transactions and finance that coex-
advanced or backward. The bald indices ist in any one site. Table 19.1 shows the
of human development (infant mortality, diverse economy frame that we have used to
‘map’ economic space. Capitalist economic
relations (including capitalist enterprise in

Table 19.1 The diverse economy

Enterprise Labour Property Transactions Finance

CAPITALIST WAGE PRIVATE MARKET MAINSTREAM
MARKET
ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVE PAID ALTERNATIVE PRIVATE ALTERNATIVE MARKET ALTERNATIVE
Self-employed State-managed assets Fair trade MARKET
CAPITALIST Reciprocal labour Customary (clan) land Alternative currencies Cooperative Banks
In-kind Community land trusts Underground market Credit unions
State owned Work for welfare Indigenous knowledge Barter Community-based
Environmentally (intellectual property) financial institutions
responsible NON-MARKET Micro-finance
Socially responsible UNPAID OPEN ACCESS Household sharing NON-MARKET
Non-profit Housework Atmosphere Gift giving Sweat equity
NON-CAPITALIST Volunteer International waters Hunting, fishing, Family lending
Worker cooperatives Self-provisioning Open source IP gathering Donations
Sole proprietorships Slave labour Outer space Theft, piracy, Interest-free loans
Community poaching
enterprise
Feudal
Slave

Source:Author’s research

228

F OR G I N G P OST-D EV E LOPMEN T PARTN ER S H IPS

which surplus value is produced, appropri- uncertain outcomes of our actions, we can
ated and distributed on the basis of waged monitor and attempt to minimize the damage
labour, private property, production for the to extant, functioning economic and eco-
market and mainstream finance) are only the logical systems, as new interventions are
tip of the economy iceberg. People in places introduced.
and regions are sustained by a vast array of
non-capitalist and alternative capitalist enter- When ethical action is seen as contribut-
prises, unpaid and alternatively paid labour, ing to developmental dynamics, we are able
alternative private and open-access property, to imagine supporting and initiating pro-
non-market and alternative market transac- cesses that produce widespread well-being
tions and alternative and non-market finance. directly (rather than via the circuitous route
In many of the so-called “lagging regions” of capitalist industrialization) (Healy and
within nations there is a vibrant diverse Graham 2008).We can begin to explore the
economy that has sustained people and eco- contributors to system resilience and start
systems for generations (Carnegie 2008; to mimic natural ecological dynamics
Gibson-Graham 2005; Pretes and Gibson that sustain habitats and maintain diversity
2008). Colonial and modern development (Gibson et al. 2010).With this widened vision
interventions have often undermined or of economic ecologies of productivity we
destroyed local networks and practices of can think about ways that local and regional
social and environmental habitat mainte- development might build sustaining econo-
nance, thereby contributing to the poverty mies that start with the assets at hand in any
that is taken as an indicator of lack of place. To summarize, the post-development
development (Gibson et al. 2010). A approach to local and regional development
post-development approach does not ignore recognizes and builds upon the diversity of
the need expressed by many in such loca- economic practices that sustain livelihoods;
tions for change that will increase well-being, recognizes market and other transactions
but starts from a standpoint of “not as constitutive of community; recognizes and
knowing” with respect to how to move for- expands the diversity of development path-
ward, allowing both practical and normative ways; emphasizes relationships rather than
visions to emerge from the local or regional logics of development; acknowledges and
context. builds upon the economic interdependence
of individuals and groups; starts with what is
The very idea of development implies a in place and builds from there (in other
dynamic of change over time.But when devel- words, it is assets-based and path-dependent).
opment dynamics are not conceptualized in How might such a post-development
terms of the systemic logics of the capitalist approach inform policy and planning on the
growth machine (e.g. commoditization, pro- ground?
letarianization, mechanization, specialization,
capital accumulation, concentration, capital Post-development pathways
and labour migration) we are able to imagine
many other dynamics that operate and could be Cultural analyst Raymond Williams reminds
purposefully stimulated.A post-development us that the modern term “region” originates
theory of change appreciates the complexity from the Latin words regionem – direction,
of interdependent developments and co- boundary, district – and regere – to direct or
developments but sees ethico-political deci- to rule (Gibson 2001: 643):
sions, rather than structural imperatives,
as capable of activating development path- In imperial and church government, and
ways that will unfold in unpredictable ways. later in the development of centralized
By humbly acknowledging up front the
229

J.K. GIBSON-GRAHAM

nation-states, region thus became not society fractured by civil war and political
only a part, but a subordinate part, of a division (Gibson-Graham 2003). Starting in
larger political entity. the 1940s, he initiated over the subsequent
decades some 2000 study circles on socialist,
(Williams 1983: 264–265) humanist and religious topics. Out of these
groups emerged the future leadership of a
In a similar hierarchy of meaning the term complex system of worker-owned coopera-
“local” became positioned as only ever the tives that forms the basis of what is today one
product of dynamic political and economic of the most successful and resilient regional
forces that operate at a larger scale.Thus local economies in Europe. Beginning in 1956
and regional development has traditionally with one cooperative business making paraf-
been seen as subordinate to the rule of capi- fin cooking stoves for a largely unserved
tal which operates on a global scale.The place domestic market,the Mondragón Cooperative
of planning and policy is to align regions and Corporation (MCC) now spans a diverse
localities in such a way as to capture the range of sectors supplying international mar-
dynamism that emanates from the logic of kets. It produces consumer goods (e.g.
capitalist development. domestic appliances, furniture and sports
equipment),capital goods,especially machine
A post-development local and regional tools for the automotive, aeronautic and
development agenda involves taking back domestic appliance sectors, and industrial
the economy as an ethical and political space components. It is also involved in construc-
of decision and the locality and region as tion, health care, education, housing, social
sites of differentiation and possibility. The security and pension management, business
normative vision that might guide develop- services and retail. In 2008 the MCC
ment interventions will be grounded in the employed just under 93,000 workers, with
specificities of place. In this section we review 83 per cent of those working in the Industry
various cases where communities and regions Area being worker-owner cooperators
have attempted to create different develop- (http://www.Mondragón-cor poration.
ment pathways as they travel, guided by com/ENG/Economic-Data/Most-relevant-
clearly stated ethical principles. Our com- data.aspx accessed 12 November 2009).
mitment to the slogan of the World Social
Forum, “Another world is possible”, has There are a number of keys to the success
drawn us to experiments with building local of the experimental development pathway
and regional community economies in initiated in Mondragón. At the core of
which well-being is increased directly by a regional economic transformation are a set
variety of mechanisms, surplus generation is of cooperative ethical principles including
used as a force for constituting and strength- open admission, democratic organization,
ening communities, a commons is created, the sovereignty of labour, the instrumental
shared and replenished, and new economic and subordinate nature of capital, participa-
subjects are created. tory management, payment solidarity and
inter-cooperation.These principles guide all
Cooperative culture guiding economic decisions. They have shaped the
regional development economic development of the community
ensuring that meeting the needs of the many
In the economically depressed and war- is put before individual gain. Potential mem-
ravaged Basque region of Spain, Father José bers are, for example, assisted to raise the ini-
Maria Arizmendiarietta, a Catholic priest tial capital needed to become worker-owners
versed in emancipatory social theory, set and the relatively flat pay scale minimizes
himself the goal of promoting unity in a income disparities in the region.

230

F OR G I N G P OST-D EV E LOPMEN T PARTN ER S H IPS

Another principle, that of social transfor- website the inspirational views of Father
mation, is consciously enacted via the con- Arizmendiarietta are still to be heard:
solidation and reinvestment of the surplus
(net profits) generated by the cooperatives. The present, however splendid it may
Early on in the growth of the cooperatives, it be, bears the seeds of its own ruin if it
became clear that there was a need for an becomes separated from the future.
overarching financial institution that could
manage cooperator savings and marshal the http://www.Mondragón-
surplus of the entire cooperative complex to corporation.com/ENG/
foster new cooperatives and create more jobs.
With the formation of the Caja Laboral Co-operativism/Co-operative-
Popular or Working People’s Bank , the coop- Experience.aspx (accessed 12
eratives as a group made the decision to November 2009)
require that the profit shares of individual
cooperators be deposited in the bank until In the Basque region of Spain we have an
retirement. This created a pool of surplus example of a longstanding, experimental,
available for investment in new cooperatives path-dependent form of post-development
including, eventually, one charged with the that continues to inspire people around the
development and nurturing of cooperative globe to be the future they want to see.
businesses.They offer rigorous business plan-
ning and provide on-site assistance with Social/solidarity economy
cooperative start-ups, guiding their develop- movements guiding regional
ment for several years until they are able to development
manage on their own.
In the Canadian province of Quebec another
On the basis of internally generated wealth successful experiment in economic develop-
and expertise, Mondragón has been able to ment driven by social values has unfolded
create a multi-sector cooperative economy over the past few decades. This French-
and engender region-wide prosperity. This speaking “nation” of some 7.5 million citizens
post-development pathway has not been has a long history of strong labour unions,
without pitfalls and problems.The early success cooperatives and mutual benefit associations.
of Mondragón was built on the emergence Over the past two decades community activ-
of new communal subjects able to navigate ism and other social and environmental move-
ethical decisions around individuality and ments have gained organizational strength.
collectivity, present gain and responsibility to While once coexisting in relative isolation, in
future generations. But maintaining high the late 1990s these sectors, organizations and
levels of worker-ownership has become one issue-based movements identified themselves
of the major challenges in an organization together as members of a “social” or “solidar-
that in recent years has thrived by expanding ity” economy.The social economy refers to “a
into Europe and Asia, absorbing capitalist set of activities and organizations stemming
companies and including a non-cooperator from collective entrepreneurship” organized
workforce. Driven by a primary commitment around certain principles and operating rules
to Basque regional development, the MCC that put community benefit before private
has become a hybrid organization in which profit (Mendell 2009:186).The language of the
the ethical issues of cooperativism, place loy- social/solidarity economy has been an impor-
alty and internationalism require continual tant mobilizing tool, allowing this new move-
debate and renegotiation. The adherence to ment to demonstrate that they are an essential
cooperative principles is an ongoing struggle part of the Quebec economy. Recognition has
rather than a fait accompli. On the MCC led to political clout (Neamtan 2008).

231

J.K. GIBSON-GRAHAM

The post-development pathway followed sought out not primarily in order to solve
in Quebec has involved the development problems in the community, but to build
and integration of institutions capable of capacity.
orchestrating an alternative style of economic
development. Initially, drawing on funds The Chantier is committed to economic
marshalled by unions (Fonds de solidarité) democratization which means, among other
community initiatives emerging from com- things, collective and community ownership.
munity economic development corporations One of the main barriers to community
were supported in low-income neighbour- ownership and wealth-building is the lack of
hoods. Many new social enterprises commit- appropriate legal frameworks and account-
ted to providing “new services that meet new ing norms for social enterprise. To address
needs or previously unsatisfied needs” were this lack, the Chantier is developing social
developed (Mendell 2009: 179; emphasis in accounting techniques for measuring collec-
original). By the early years of the twenty- tive value-added as well as formulating new
first century, the Quebec social economy legal instruments and entities for the social
included 935 childcare centres, 103 home- economy (Mendell 2009: 189). It has created
care enterprises, 671 credit unions, 180 its own investment tools so that it can sup-
worker cooperatives and 72 worker-share- port enterprises focused on maximizing
holder cooperatives that together provided social and environmental returns on invest-
167,302 jobs (190). These enterprises are ment, rather than financial return to finan-
not substitutes for public provision. Given cial institutions and shareholders. In 2007, as
the magnitude and job-creating power of part of its co-construction policy, the
the social economy in Quebec the move- Chantier obtained a government grant to
ment has established a working relationship establish the Fiducie du Chantier de
with the provincial government, demanding l’Economie Sociale, a financial institution
“the same kind of support for our collective that offers long-term patient capital for
enterprises that the government has given enterprise development. In a province in
to the private for-profit sector” (Neamtan which the manufacturing and resource sec-
2008: 272). Most importantly they gained tors, especially pulp and paper, are struggling
operating costs for their coordinating insti- or facing closures, the challenges for employ-
tution, the Chantier de l’Economie Sociale, that ment generation are great. So far social
have increased from $250,000 per annum in economy developments have generated
1996 to 1998 to $650,000 per annum in impressive job growth in a multitude of small
2006 to 2008 (Mendell 2009: 187). establishments. Whether this sector can ever
fully replace the employment levels associ-
The Chantier is a democratically organ- ated with large-scale industry is unclear.
ized representational body that negotiates Post-development possibilities in Quebec
with government on behalf of its social have been realized by a partnership between
economy membership. It functions as a sup- social economy actors and policy makers in
port organization that networks social government.Together they have provided an
enterprises, unions, cooperatives and non- enabling environment in which needs in
profits, creating internal markets, securing households and neighbourhoods have been
public sector markets, providing training directly met with childcare, homecare, artis-
directly and ensuring that colleges and uni- tic outlets, accessible finance and housing.
versities meet the training needs of the social Surplus has been deployed to strengthen the
economy. It is also a social innovation hub social economy, which has been able to meet
for the sector that produces regular commu- the issue of economic development“head-on,
nity maps and identifies new opportunities without losing our value system” (Neamtan
for enterprises. Innovative initiatives are 2008: 270).

232

F OR G I N G P OST-D EV E LOPMEN T PARTN ER S H IPS

Theory and post-development In all these contexts we see intellectuals or
possibility academics working alongside others in research
collectives. This observation offers a key to
Mondragón and Quebec present inspira- thinking about the role of concepts and the-
tional experiments with ethically driven ories in local and regional post-development.
regional development that have created As thinkers we can choose to contribute to
economies focused on producing direct an enabling environment in which specific,
social benefit. In both cases great importance place-based strategies for increasing well-
has been placed on a non-capitalocentric being will emerge. If we start from the
language of economy and support for emerg- premise that there is no one theory or path-
ing economic subjectivities.The role of intel- way of local and regional development, how
lectuals in helping to consolidate new might we bring our conceptual training to
developmental pathways is publicly acknow- bear on the making of new worlds?
ledged. In the case of Mondragón, Father
Arizmendiarietta introduced theories of eco- We have shown how rethinking the iden-
nomic and social justice and the model of tity of the economy produces a proliferation
the Rochdale cooperators to unemployed of ways of meeting material needs in the
youths and helped them conceptualize new social economy.While there is a lively debate
forms of economic organization. In Quebec, about theorizing the social economy (e.g.
university-based researchers are involved in Amin 2009), the conceptual representation
collaborative partnerships with government of diverse economies is still very much a
and movement actors mapping, document- work in progress (Gibson-Graham 2006,
ing, conceptualizing and measuring the social 2008). In particular there is a dearth of think-
economy as part of a strategic mobilization ing about developmental dynamics outside
to gain prominence in policy arenas (Mendell the confines of systemic capitalocentric
2009: 202).To take another example, in Brazil logics of change. How might we represent
where solidarity economy activism has the dynamic properties of solidarity econo-
grown dramatically in recent years, social mies as they are currently unfolding? How
enterprises are being set up in university do we represent regional and local develop-
incubators. The incubator at Universidade ment in terms of interdependent develop-
Regional do Noroete do Estado do Rio ments and co-developments that are
Grande do Sul, for example, is part of a uni- consciously initiated by strategic ethical deci-
versity extension programme that: sions but that evolve in unpredictable ways?
There is research to be done in collaboration
promotes citizenship, work and social with practitioners on the ground to recog-
inclusion, supported by principles nize new dynamics and help to analyse their
and values of the solidarity economy trajectories. Graham and Cornwell (2009)
(co-operation, self-management, soli- have worked with two community organiza-
darity, valorization of the worker and tions in Massachusetts to help identify the
sustainable development). ethical dynamics of development that they
have activated.They have theorized the ten-
(Lechat 2009: 164) sions and pay-offs in a large cooperative
housing organization between, for example,
Building on Paulo Freire’s vision of empow- “deciding to meet the needs of all tenants for
erment through popular education and par- affordable food or to maintain and restore
ticipation, these incubators not only advise the commons – the housing complex itself ”
about business development but cultivate (Graham and Cornwell 2009: 52, emphasis in
newly knowledgeable subjects of a distinc- original).They identify the practices that are
tively Brazilian solidarity economy. “reclaiming the commons” by increasing

233

J.K. GIBSON-GRAHAM

publicly accessible garden space in the city of responsible capitalist enterprises that distrib-
Holyoke, and the tough decisions being ute a share of privately appropriated surplus
made about how to share out common space to community well-being and environmental
to landless immigrants keen to farm (2009: health as well as providing well-paid and
53). Added to these complex dynamics of secure employment? Working with capitalist
interdependence they identify unique corporations to enhance the resilience of
dynamics of organizational growth that (1) is diverse local economies will involve very dif-
membership-led and community driven, (2) ferent strategies than those usually pursued by
emerges though a process of organic/logical local economic development agencies (see, for
evolution, and (3) is fuelled by transforming example, Gibson-Graham 2006: 181–183).
individuals (2009: 55–62). By producing this
collaborative knowledge of change, the Finally, and perhaps most importantly, aca-
organizations and the social economy of demics and public intellectuals are in a posi-
which they are a part become more credible tion to foster and spread the post-development
(and therefore powerful) and available as ethos, including its stance of “not knowing”
inspirations and models for development in (or not knowing too much) and its conse-
other regions. quent openness to possibility and plurality:

In another context researchers have begun future society probably must be plural-
to draw on ecological dynamics of develop- ist in all its organizations including the
ment to understand the choices about devel- economic. There will be action and
opment pathways facing poor rural interaction of publicly owned firms and
communities in the Philippines. In collabo- private firms, the market and planning,
ration with community-based researchers, entities of paternalistic style, capitalist
Gibson and colleagues (2010) have identified and social. Every juncture, the nature of
many of the diverse economic practices and every activity, the level of evolution and
cultural traditions that sustain local social and the development of every community,
environmental well-being at the municipal will require a special treatment...not
level. Guided by Jacobs’ ecologically inspired limited to one form of organization if
discussion of economic diversity and the we believe in and love man, his liberty,
resilience of regions (2000), they have theo- and justice, and democracy.
rized strategies for strengthening local econ-
omies by maintaining and proliferating (Arizmendiarrieta, quoted in Whyte
diverse economic relations – including both and Whyte 1988: 239)
a wider range of sectors as well as different
transactions, forms of labour and enterprise References
types. Here we see conceptual extension as a
means of bringing theory to bear on post- Amin, A. (ed.) (2009) The Social Economy:
development possibilities. International Perspectives on Economic Solidarity,
London: Zed Books.
The aim of post-development theorizing
about local and regional development does Butler, J. (1993) Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive
not preclude involvement of people and Limits of “Sex”, New York and London:
places with capitalist enterprise, wage labour, Routledge.
formal markets or mainstream financial insti-
tutions. This is perhaps where there is most Carnegie, M. (2008) “Development prospects in
need for new concepts and theories that allow Eastern Indonesia learning from Oelua’s
for truly interdependent development. How diverse economy”, Asia Pacific Viewpoint 49, 3,
might localities and regions foster the devel- 294–304.
opment of socially and environmentally
Chambers, R. and Conway, G. (1992) “Sustainable
234 rural livelihoods: practical concepts for the
21st century”, IDS Discussion Paper 296 IDS:
Brighton.

F OR G I N G P OST-D EV E LOPMEN T PARTN ER S H IPS

Escobar, A. (1995) Encountering Development: The J. Matthaei (eds) Solidarity Economy: Building
Making and Unmaking of the Third World, Alternatives for People and Planet, Chicago:
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Changemaker Publications, 268–276.
Pretes, M. and Gibson, K. (2008) “Openings in the
Gibson, K. (2001) “Regional subjection and body of ‘capitalism’: capital flows, trust funds
becoming”, Environment and Planning D: Society and diverse economic possibilities in Kiribati”,
and Space 19, 6, 639–667. Asia Pacific Viewpoint 49, 3, 381–391.
Rigg, J., Bebbington,A., Gough, K., Bryceson, D.,
Gibson, K. Cahill, A. and McKay, D. (2010) Agergaard, J., Fold, N. and Tacoli, C. (2009)
“Rethinking the dynamics of rural transfor- “The World Development Report 2009
mation: performing different development ‘reshapes economic geography’: geographical
pathways in a Philippine municipality”, reflections”, Transactions of the Institute of British
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers Geographers 34, 2, 128–136 .
(forthcoming). Santos, B. de Sousa. (2004) “The WSF: toward a
counter-hegemonic globalization”, in J. Sen,
Gibson-Graham, J.K. (2003) “Enabling ethical A. Anand, A. Escobar and P. Waterman (eds)
economies: cooperativism and class”, Critical World Social Forum: Challenging Empires, New
Sociology 29, 2, 123–161. Delhi:The Viveka Foundation, 235–245.
Scoones, I. (1998) “Sustainable rural livelihoods: a
Gibson-Graham, J.K. (2005) “Surplus possibilities: framework for analysis”, IDS Working Paper
postdevelopment and community economies,” No. 72 IDS, Brighton.
Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 26, 4–26. Whyte, W.F. and Whyte, K.K. (1988) Making
Mondragón: The Growth and Dynamics of the
Gibson-Graham, J.K. (2006) A Postcapitalist Politics, Mondragón Cooperative Complex, Ithaca, NY:
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ILR, Cornell University.
Williams, R. (1983) Keywords: A Vocabulary of
Gibson-Graham, J.K. (2008) “Diverse economies: Culture and Society, Second Edition Oxford:
performative practices for ‘other worlds’”, Oxford University Press.
Progress in Human Geography 32, 5, 613–632. World Bank (2009) The World Development Report
2009: Reshaping Economic Geography,
Graham, J. and Cornwell, J. (2009) “Building Washington: The International Bank for
community economies in Massachusetts: an Reconstruction and Development/The World
emerging model of economic development?”, Bank.
inA.Amin (ed.) The Social Economy:International
Perspectives on Economic Solidarity, London and Further reading
New York: Zed Books, 37–65.
Amin, A. (ed.) (2009) The Social Economy:
Healy, S. and Graham, J. (2008) “Building com- International Perspectives on Economic Solidarity,
munity economies: a postcapitalist project of London and NewYork: Zed Books. (An intro-
sustainable development”, (D. Ruccio (ed.) duction to debates about defining the social
Economic Representations:Academic and Everyday, economy and ethnographies of social econo-
New York: Routledge, 291–314. mies around the world.)

Jacobs, J. (2000) The Nature of Economies, New Cameron, J. and Gibson, K. (2005) “Alternative
York: Vintage Books. pathways to community and economic devel-
opment: The Latrobe Valley Community
Law, J. and Urry, J. (2004) “Enacting the social”, Partnering Project”, Geographical Research 43,
Economy and Society 33, 390–410. 3, 274–285. (Documents post-development
action research in a post-industrial region of
Lechat, N. (2009) “Organizing for the solidarity Australia.)
economy in south Brazil”, in A. Amin (ed.)
The Social Economy: International Perspectives on Escobar, A. (1995) Encountering Development: The
Economic Solidarity, London and New York: Making and Unmaking of the Third World,
Zed Books, 159–175. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (A
founding text of post-development theory.)
McGregor, A. (2009) “New possibilities? Shifts in
post-development theory and practice”, Escobar, A. (2008) Territories of Difference: Place,
Geography Compass 10, 1–15. Movements, Life, Redes, Durham, NC, and
London: Duke University Press. (An extended
Mendell, M. (2009) “The three pillars of the social
economy: the Quebec experience”, in A.Amin
(ed.) The Social Economy:International Perspectives
on Economic Solidarity, London and New York:
Zed Books, 176–207.

Mitchell,T. (2005) “The work of economics: how
a discipline makes its world”, European Journal
of Sociology XLVI, 297–320.

Neamtan, N. (2008) “Chantier de l’Economic
Sociale: building the solidarity economy
in Quebec”, in J. Allard, C. Davidson and

235

J.K. GIBSON-GRAHAM

analysis of post-development practice in McKinnon, K., Gibson, K. and Malam, L. (eds)
Colombia’s Pacific region.) (2008)“Critical geographies of the Asia-Pacific
Gibson-Graham, J.K. (2006) A Postcapitalist Politics, Special Issue”, Asia Pacific Viewpoint 49, 3. (An
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. introduction to post-development thinking
(Outlines post-development thinking for eco- and its application in a variety of localities and
nomic geography.) regions.)
McGregor, A. (2009) “New possibilities? Shifts in
post-development theory and practice”, Ziai, A. (ed.) (2007) Exploring Post-development:
Geography Compass 10, 1–15. (A review of the Theory and Practice, Problems and Perspectives,
evolution of post-development thinking.) London: Routledge. (Outlines key debates of
the post-development approach.)

236

Section IV

Government and governance



20

The state
Government and governance

Bob Jessop

Introduction change it. While such complexities have led
some analysts to undertake particular case
The state is a complex institution that has studies and ignore general questions about
been studied from diverse entrypoints and statehood, states, or state power, such issues
standpoints. No single theory could ever are valid research topics. Five approaches are
exhaust its intricacies.This chapter defines its especially productive: the Weberian account
core features and presents five approaches that in terms of the territorialization of political
provide some theoretical and empirical pur- power; the Marxist approach to the state as a
chase on its roles in local and regional devel- social relation; critical discourse analysis on
opment. It also advocates studying the state in the political imaginaries that frame the nature
terms of its central role in meta governance, and purposes of government;the Foucauldian
i.e. in articulating government and govern- approach to technologies of government (or
ance at different scales and across different governmentality); and work on governance,
social fields. Analyses should also draw on multi-level governance, network governance,
several disciplinary perspectives, consider dif- and meta governance.
ferent kinds of state and political regime,
and explore how they are embedded in wider Recognizing the complex nature of the
sets of social relations.These suggestions imply state, Max Weber, the German social scientist,
that, despite recurrent tendencies to reify the addressed it in terms of means rather than
state and treat it as standing outside and above ends. He famously defined the modern state
society, the state and its projects cannot as a ‘human community that (successfully)
be adequately understood apart from their claims the monopoly of the legitimate use
relations to wider sets of social relations. of physical force within a given territory’
(Weber 1948: 78). Similar definitions from
The state other scholars highlight its formal sover-
eignty vis-à-vis its own population and other
The state is so taken for granted in everyday states.Thus viewed, the state’s key features are
life that social forces often discover many of state territory, a state apparatus, and a state
its complexities only when they seek to population.This does not mean that modern
states exercise power mainly through direct
and immediate coercion – this would be a

239

BOB JESSOP

sign of crisis or state failure – but rather that that has been adopted in some policy areas).
coercion is their last resort in enforcing bind- One might also ask whether the rapid expan-
ing decisions. If state power is deemed legiti- sion of transnational regimes indicates the
mate, compliance normally follows without emergence of global governance or even a
such recourse and is often mediated through world state.
micro-techniques that seem to have little if
anything to do with the state (cf. Bratsis 2006; We can supplement the Weberian defini-
Miller and Rose 2008). tion by noting the role of discursive and
material practices in constituting the territo-
More generally, building on Weber and rial boundaries of states and in redefining the
like-minded scholars, some theorists regard division between the state qua institutional
the essence of the state (both pre-modern and ensemble and other institutional orders and
modern) as the territorialization of political the everyday life in a given society. Noting
authority. This involves the intersection of how the state is related to other institutional
politically organized coercive and symbolic orders in society, such as economy, family,
power, a clearly demarcated core territory, religion, sport, art, or ‘civil society’ does not
and a resident population on which political exclude (indeed, it assumes) specifically state-
decisions are collectively binding.This draws generated and state-mediated processes. The
attention to the variable ensemble of tech- form and dynamic of political struggle is
nologies and practices that produce, natural- typically relatively autonomous from other
ize, and manage territorial space as a bounded sites and forms of struggle and may well create
container within which political power is major disjunctions between politics and the
wielded to achieve various, more or less organization of other fields of life. Well-
consistent, and changing policy objectives. known examples include the disjunction
Almost all territorial states have territorial between the organization of the real and/or
subdivisions with more or less wide-ranging financial economies and the boundaries of
political and administrative powers and some different tiers and branches of government,
autonomy from the central state apparatus. creating potential problems of economic
This provides the framework for cooperation performance and political governance. The
and competition among local and regional so-called relative autonomy of the political is
authorities as well as their relations to the what motivates many interests and forces to
national territorial state and, directly or indi- conduct struggles addressed to the state and/
rectly, to trans- and supranational authorities or to seek to transform the state, its capaci-
and institutions.The growing importance of ties, and the forms of its intervention. From
the supranational from the 1970s onwards the viewpoint of local and regional (as well
(putting aside previous patterns of historical as supranational) government and govern-
empire, suzerainty, dependency, colonization, ance, such struggles could turn on the extent
and imperial conquest) casts doubt on the and forms of areal differentiation, centre–
common assumption that states are typically periphery relations, the scalar division of polit-
national states or, even more inadequately, ical responsibilities and rights to raise revenue,
nation-states.This assumption is still reflected and the chance to jump scale to secure polit-
in attempts to make sense of the European ical advantage over rivals and adversaries.
Union, for example, as a rescaled ‘national’ There are significant cross-national differ-
state. In contrast, others ask whether the EU ences in these regards that shape the capaci-
is reviving medieval political patterns (neo- ties of local, urban, metropolitan, and regional
medievalism), is a new form of territorial state, authorities to enhance economic growth,
or represents an emerging post-sovereign competitiveness, and effective subnational
form of authority (with emphasis in this case government. Political practices at these levels
falling on the open method of coordination are never confined to a given area or scale, of

240

TH E STATE

course, any more than is the case for the con- in the shadow of hierarchy’. An influential
ditions for economic performance (cf. Arts approach to local and regional development
et al. 2009; Cox 1998; Jessop 2002). in this regard is that promoted by scholars
inspired by Foucault (e.g. Isin 2000). They
Organized coercion is just one state capac- emphasize the micro-foundations of state
ity among many forms of ‘hard power’ and power in specific techniques of governmen-
co-exists with forms of ‘soft power’ rooted in tality, i.e. the distinctive rationalities and dis-
socio-cultural relations. Thus another influ- ciplinary practices involved in shaping
ential theorist,Antonio Gramsci, defined the individual conduct and the overall properties
state as ‘political society + civil society’; and of a given population (Miller and Rose 2008).
analysed state power in modern democratic These techniques often cross-cut the public–
societies as based on ‘hegemony armoured private divide and involve diverse institu-
by coercion’. He defined hegemony as the tions, professions, and practices. This poses
successful mobilization and reproduction of the question of how multiple micro-powers
the ‘active consent’ of dominated groups by can be combined to produce the semblance
the ruling class through its political, intellec- of macro-order by bringing individuals into
tual, and moral leadership. In turn, for conformity with the requirements of specific
Gramsci, force refers to coercion that aims to modalities of macro-power relations and/or
bring the mass of the people into conformity be deployed to manage the effects of frag-
and compliance with the requirements of a mentation and exclusion through targeted
specific mode of growth. This approach economic and social policies.
reminds us that the state only exercises power
by projecting and realizing state capacities A fourth source of insight into state power
beyond the narrow boundaries of state; and comes from ‘critical discourse analysts’ who
that domination and hegemony can be exer- explore how discourse(s) shape the state and
cised on either side of any official public– orient action towards it (e.g. Hansen and
private divide (for example, state support for Stepputat 2001; Scott 1998). The develop-
paramilitary groups like the Italian fascisti or, ment of broad economic and political visions
conversely, state education in relation to as well as specific policy paradigms is relevant
intellectual and moral hegemony). It also here. Given the multiplicity of competing
suggests a continuum of bases of state power visions (at most there is a dominant or hege-
ranging from active hegemony through pas- monic discourse) that orient the actions of
sive revolution (change without popular political forces, this reinforces the view of
mobilization) and force-fraud-corruption to the state as a polyvalent, polycontextual phe-
an open war on sections of the population. nomenon. This becomes especially clear
Gramsci was also sensitive to the spatial aspects when we consider the many scales and sites
of state power: he analysed the problems of on which the state is said to operate and
building national unity due to local and highlights once again problems of institu-
regional economic, political, social, and lin- tional integration and the distribution of
guistic differences as well as to uneven devel- state functions and powers.
opment, focusing especially on the ‘Southern
Question’, i.e. the challenges created by the These arguments, insights, and questions
‘backwardness’ of Southern Italy (Gramsci have been synthesized within the strategic-
1971, 1978; cf.Agnew 1995; Jessop 2007). relational approach to the state developed by
Jessop (1990, 2002, 2007). Inspired by Marx,
One way to move beyond the Weberian Gramsci, and Poulantzas, Jessop analyses the
and Gramscian focus on coercion and hege- state as a social relation.This elliptical phrase
mony, even allowing for socio-spatial differ- implies that, whether regarded as a thing (or,
entiation, is to explore the state in terms of better, an institutional ensemble) or as a
‘governance + government’ or ‘governance rational subject (or, better, the repository of

241

BOB JESSOP Applying this approach

specific political capacities and resources), There are many ways to study states on dif-
the state is far from a passive instrument or ferent scales with this approach.Three major
neutral actor. It is an ensemble of power cen- foci are: (1) the distinctive material, social,
tres and capacities that offer unequal chances and spatio-temporal features of the state and
to different forces within and outside the its relations to the wider political system and
state.A given type of state, a given state form, lifeworld; (2) the state’s role in reproducing
a given form of regime will be more acces- the economic and extra-economic condi-
sible to some forces than others according to tions for capital accumulation; and (3) the
the strategies they adopt to gain or influence relations between the state as a complex
state power; and it will be more tractable for organ of government and broader patterns
some economic or political strategies than of governance in the wider society.
others because of its preferred modes of
intervention and resources. In turn, the effec- First, one could analyse six interrelated
tiveness of state capacities depends on links dimensions of the state’s institutional materi-
to forces and powers that exist and operate ality, discursive features, and spatio-temporal
beyond the state’s formal boundaries. More- matrices.These are modes of political repre-
over, since it is not a subject, the state does not sentation and their articulation; the vertical,
and, indeed, cannot, exercise power. Instead horizontal, and transversal articulation of
its powers (plural) are activated in specific the state as an institutional ensemble and its
conjunctures by changing sets of politicians demarcation from, and relation to, other
and state officials located in specific parts of states; mechanisms and modes of state inter-
the state.This differential impact on political vention and their overall articulation; the
forces’ capacity to pursue their interests political projects and demands advanced by
depends in part on their goals, strategies and different social forces within and beyond
tactics. Political forces will usually consider the state system; the state projects that seek
the prevailing and, perhaps, future balance of to impose relative unity on state activities
forces within and beyond a given state. How through a distinctive statecraft and to regu-
far and in what ways state powers (and any late the state’s boundaries as a precondition
associated liabilities or weak points) are actu- for such efforts; and the hegemonic projects
alized depends on the action, reaction, and that seek to reconcile the particular and the
interaction of specific social forces located universal by linking the state’s purposes into
in and beyond this complex ensemble. If a broader – but always selective – political,
an overall strategic line is discernible, it is due intellectual and moral vision of the public
to strategic coordination enabled by the grid interest. One should not explore these
of the state system and the parallel power dimensions solely at the national level because
networks that cross-cut and integrate its they also depend on broader areal and scalar
formal structures. Such unity is improbable grids of political practice.
because the state is shot through with con-
tradictions and struggles and its political Second, regarding capital accumulation
agents must always take account of (poten- and/or economic development, one can
tial) mobilization by a wide range of forces explore the roles of the state at various scales
beyond the state, engaged in struggles to from the neighbourhood up to the world
transform it, determine its policies, or simply market or world society in facilitating prof-
resist it from afar. The strategic-relational itable economic activities by private capital;
approach covers all aspects of social domina- in securing the overall economic and social
tion, including class, gender, ethnicity, ‘race’, reproduction of the labour force as workers
generation, religion, political affiliation, or and citizens (or subjects); the dominant,
regional location. nodal, and other scales on which the most

242

TH E STATE

important economic and social policies are economic, political, and social imaginaries
made and implemented; and the modes of and then to the deeper structure and logics
governance adopted by states to compensate of a given social formation and its insertion
for market failures.We can compare states in into the world market, inter-state system, and
all four respects.Thus the Keynesian welfare world society. Such strategies, projects, and
national state that characterized economic and visions are most likely to succeed where they
social policy formation and implementation of address the major structural constraints asso-
Atlantic Fordism can be contrasted with the ciated with the dominant institutional orders
tendentially emerging Schumpeterian work- and the prevailing balance of forces as well as
fare post-national regime in the after-Fordist the conjunctural opportunities that could be
period.The third term in this contrast refers opened by new alliances, strategies, spatio-
explicitly to the shift from the dominance of temporal horizons of action, and so on. A
the national scale in economic and social dialectics of path-dependency and path-
policy-making to a more complex scalar shaping operates in these regards.This account
division in this regard.This is reflected in the can be applied to specific political periods,
increased importance of local and regional stages, or conjunctures by examining four
government and governance arrangements as topics.
well as the expansion of trans- and supra-
national regimes (for further discussion, see First, what, if any, is the dominant
Jessop 2002). Vergesellschaftungsprinzip (or principle of soci-
etalization) and how is it related to state
Third, governance refers to mechanisms formation and transformation? Among the
and strategies of coordination in the face of competing principles are marketization, inter-
complex reciprocal interdependence among nal or external security,environmental steward-
operationally autonomous actors, organiza- ship, citizenship, the rule of law, nationalism,
tions, and functional systems. Four main forms ethnicity, and theocracy. Any of these (or
exist: markets, hierarchies, networks, and soli- others) could (and have) become dominant,
darity; states have a major role in modulat- at least temporarily.Thus a state could oper-
ing them and ordering them in time-space ate mainly as a capitalist state, military power,
(see below). theocratic regime, representative democratic
regime answerable to civil society, apartheid
Exploring these themes highlights the role state, ethico-political state, and so on (cf.
of strategic concepts in analysing state appa- Mann 1986). It follows that capital accumu-
ratuses and state power. Given social contra- lation is not always the best entrypoint for
dictions and political struggles as well as studying the complexities of the social world
internal conflicts and rivalries among its even though one might later ask whether
diverse tiers and branches, the state’s capacity states that seem to prioritize, say, national
to act as a unified political force – insofar as security and nation-building actually pursue
it does – is related to political strategies. State policies that favour capital (e.g. East Asian
managers (politicians and career officials) are developmental states). Different crystallizations
key players here but cannot (or should not) of state power will obviously affect capacities
ignore the wider balance of forces. Relevant for local and regional as well as national
strategic concepts for analysing states in cap- development (e.g. South Africa during and
italist societies include state-sponsored accu- after apartheid, Eastern and Central Europe
mulation strategies oriented to economic before, during, and after Soviet domination).
development, state projects oriented to state- Other effects follow from modes of inser-
building and securing its institutional unity, tion into the world market (e.g. rentier oil
and hegemonic visions of the nature and states like the United Arab Emirates, small
purposes of the state for the wider society. open economies based on a rich ecology of
These should be related initially to specific
243

BOB JESSOP

industrial and post-industrial regional clus- issues about the extent, pattern, and ‘policing’
ters and strong local and regional authorities of the formal,institutional separation between
like Switzerland, or low-tech, low-wage the state apparatus(es) and other institutional
exporting economies like Cambodia). Both orders; and about the degree of interpersonal
types of effect illustrate the importance of or organizational overlap among them. It also
the embedding (or not) of government and raises questions about the changing scales of
governance in wider sets of social relations. the state and politics. While the national
scale tended to dominate in post-war states
Second, what are the distinctive patterns in such varied regimes as Atlantic Fordism,
of ‘structurally inscribed strategic selectivi- import-substitution industrialization,export-
ties’ of a given state considered as a complex led growth, or state socialism, globalization
institutional ensemble? Casual observation as allegedly tends to weaken national states
well as theoretical and empirical study shows as well as national economies and societies
that, despite the formal equivalence among (cf. Collinge (1996) on the ‘relativization of
the member states of the United Nations, scale’). This has enabled the resurgence of
not all states are equally capable of exercising local and regional states beneath the national
power internally and/or internationally.This state and prompted the growth of trans- and
depends on their specific state capacities and supranational forms of power. The relative
powers (in the plural) and their differential strengths and weaknesses of these scales of
vulnerabilities to the activation of counter- political organization and their implications
powers by other social forces within and for local and regional development can be
beyond the state. States have different prob- studied in terms of the above-mentioned six
lems at home and abroad; different histories; dimensions, especially inter-scalar articula-
and different capacities to address these prob- tion and scale jumping. The weakening of
lems and reorganize themselves in response. national states need not entail that other
Moreover, in international as well as domes- scales of political organization gain power.
tic matters, some are more powerful than This would depend on the adequacy of par-
others. Even the more powerful states still face ticular forms of representation, intervention,
external pressures from other states, power and internal and external articulation of state
centres, and the logic of the world market as apparatuses and the tasks that are set by accu-
well as from the internal impact of their own mulation strategies, state projects, and hege-
policies and resulting resistance. Recent US monic visions.This raises important questions
history, financially, economically, militarily, about the relation between government and
and geo-politically, illustrates this truism and, governance.
in the present context, attempts by the fed-
eral Administration to displace some costs of A fourth step leads to the interaction of
decline onto local authorities and states are the relevant political forces on the asymmet-
reflected in fiscal crisis and overburdened rical terrain of the state system and/or at a
government and governance arrangements. distance therefrom as they pursue immediate
A counter-example is the capacity for inno- goals, seek to alter the balance of forces and/
vation shown by local and state governments or the overall configuration of state powers
in response to climate change. and selectivities.

Third, how can one describe and explain Bringing governance
the historical and substantive organization into the picture
and configuration of political forces in spe-
cific conjunctures and their strategies and The current fascination with the nature and
tactics, including their capacity to respond to dynamic of governance at all levels from the
the strategic selectivities inscribed in the state
apparatus as a whole? This raises interesting

244

TH E STATE

local to the global is linked to disillusion with to market and state failure, especially where
the market and state as coordination mecha- cooperation must cross territorial borders
nisms. Governance is an ambiguous term (e.g. in the European Union or in interna-
that can refer to various modes of coordin- tional regimes). Based on negotiation and
ating social relations marked by complex networks, governance in this sense operates on
reciprocal interdependence. Four modes are different scales of organization ranging from
widely discussed: ex-post coordination based localized networks of power and decision-
on agents’ formally rational pursuit of self- making through national and regional
interest (anarchic market exchange); ex-ante public–private partnerships to the expansion
imperative coordination of the pursuit of of international and supranational regimes.
collective goals set from above by relevant While the expansion of governance is often
authorities (hierarchical command); conti- assumed to imply a diminution in state
nuing self-organization based on networks, capacities, it could enhance the state’s power
negotiation, and deliberation to redefine to secure its interests and, indeed, provide
objectives in the light of changing circum- it with a new (or expanded) role in meta-
stances (heterarchic coordination); and reli- governance, i.e. the rebalancing of different
ance on unconditional commitment to forms of governance.This is certainly how its
communities of different kinds and scope role is conceived in local and regional devel-
(coordination via trust and solidarity). Self- opment, with its turn to governance and
organization based on networks is generally governmentality in the shadow of national
regarded as having expanded at the cost of (or, for the EU, supranational) government
markets and hierarchies. This is supposedly supervision and oversight.Indeed,as economic
related to its suitability for guiding complex competitiveness becomes a major and com-
systems that are resistant to top-down inter- prehensive goal, states (on whatever scale)
nal and/or external command but cannot be get more involved in redefining relations
left reliably to the market’s invisible hand. between the economic and extra-economic,
Many examples exist at local and regional steering the (re-)commodification of social
level insofar as problems of economic per- relations, and coping with the repercussions
formance, political legitimacy, and social of the growing dominance of economic
cohesion (or exclusion) are seen to have spe- logic in the wider society. However, while
cific local and regional features and, by virtue the micro-social conditions for economic
of these complexities, to require ‘joined up’ competitiveness may sometimes be better
(multi-stakeholder) thinking and policies. handled now at subnational or cross-border
Less research has been undertaken on soli- levels, large national states may be better
darity even though it is well suited to gov- equipped to deal with territorial integration,
erning local problems and is significant in social cohesion, and social exclusion because
new forms of community participation at of their greater fisco-financial powers and
local and regional level.This may be because redistributive capacities.
it is harder to roll out and entrench on a
national or supranational basis across the full Important differences remain between
range of policy fields. government and governance regarding modes
of economic and social intervention. First,
States are not confined to hierarchical while the sovereign state is essentially a polit-
command but directly employ all four forms ical unit that governs but is not itself gov-
of governance in different ways.While states erned, self-organization provides the essence
differ in how they combine these mechanisms, of governance. Second, while the sovereign
their relative weight seems to have shifted in state mainly governs activities on its own ter-
the last 30 years from top-down command ritorial domain and defends its territorial
towards networked governance in response integrity against other states and intrusive

245

BOB JESSOP

forces, governance seeks to manage functional governance and, through judicious re-mixing
interdependencies, whatever their (often and recalibration of markets, hierarchy,
variable) territorial scope. These differences networks, and solidarity, to achieve the best
explain the growing interest in multi-level possible outcomes from the viewpoint of
governance insofar as it can operate across those engaged in metagovernance. In this
scales and coordinate state and non-state sense it also means the organization of the
actors around particular functional problems conditions of governance in terms of their
with a variable territorial geometry. Some structurally inscribed strategic selectivity, i.e.
theorists emphasize the vertical dimension in terms of their asymmetrical privileging of
of coordination (multi-level governance); some outcomes over others.
others focus on the horizontal dimension
(network governance). In both cases the state Governments play a major and growing
is accorded a continuing role in the organi- role in all aspects of metagovernance:
zation of reflexive self-organization among they get involved in redesigning markets,
multiple stakeholders across several scales of in constitutional change and the juridical
state territorial organization and, indeed, in re-regulation of organizational forms and
essentially extra-territorial contexts. But this objectives, in organizing the conditions for
role is that of primus inter pares in a com- self-organization, and, most importantly, in
plex, heterogeneous, and multi-level network collibration. They provide the ground rules
rather than as the sovereign authority in a for governance and the regulatory order in
single hierarchical command structure. Thus and through which governance partners
formal sovereignty is better seen as a series of can pursue their aims; ensure the compatibil-
symbolic and material state capacities than as ity or coherence of different governance
an overarching, dominant resource. Other mechanisms and regimes; act as the primary
stakeholders contribute other symbolic or organizer of the dialogue among policy
material resources (e.g. private money, legiti- communities; deploy a relative monopoly of
macy, information, expertise, organizational organizational intelligence and information
capacities, or power of numbers) to be com- in order to shape cognitive expectations; serve
bined with states’ sovereign and other capac- as a‘court of appeal’for disputes arising within
ities to advance collectively agreed aims and and over governance;seek to rebalance power
objectives.Thus states’ involvement in multi- differentials by strengthening weaker forces
level governance becomes less hierarchical, or systems in the interests of system integra-
less centralized, and less directive and, com- tion and/or social cohesion; try to modify
pared to the clear hierarchy of territorial the self-understanding of identities, strategic
powers theoretically associated with sovereign capacities, and interests of individual and col-
states, it typically involves tangled hierarchies lective actors in different strategic contexts
and complex interdependence. and hence alter their implications for pre-
ferred strategies and tactics; facilitate collec-
If markets and states fail, so does govern- tive learning about functional linkages and
ance. One response to this is the increased material interdependencies among different
attempts by states (especially but not exclu- sites and spheres of action; and assume politi-
sively at the national territorial level) to cal responsibility in the event of governance
manage the mix and operation of the four failure. In this last respect, another motive for
main modes of governance in the light of metagovernance is to guide the effects of
emerging problems, the mutual interactions governance arrangements on political stabil-
of their different forms and effects, and the ity and social cohesion (or overall coordina-
overall balance of forces. This is expected to tion) of different governance regimes and
improve the performance of each mode of mechanisms ( Jessop (2002) on national states;

246

TH E STATE

Zeitlin andTrubek (2003) on Europe;Torfing for local politics’, Political Geography, 17 (1),
and Sørensen (2007) on democratic network 1–23.
governance; Slaughter (2004) on the world Gramsci, A. (1971) Selections from the Prison
order). Meta-governance also serves to Notebooks, London: Lawrence & Wishart.
modify the strategic selectivity of the state Gramsci, A. (1978) Selections from Political
and shift the balance of forces in favour of Writings (1921–1926), London: Lawrence &
one set of forces or another. Jumping scale Wishart.
is one aspect of this. This emerging role Isin, E.F. (ed.) (2000) Democracy, Citizenship and the
means that networking, negotiation, noise Global City, London: Routledge.
reduction, and negative as well as positive Jessop, B. (1990) State Theory: Putting the Capitalist
coordination occur ‘in the shadow of State in its Place, Cambridge: Polity.
hierarchy’ (Scharpf 1994: 40). Unfortunately, Jessop, B. (2002) The Future of the Capitalist State,
since every practice is prone to failure, Cambridge: Polity.
metagovernance is also likely to fail. This Jessop, B. (2007) State Power: A Strategic-Relational
implies that there is no Archimedean point Approach, Cambridge: Polity.
from which governance or metagovernance Hansen, T.B. and Stepputat, F. (eds) (2001) States
can be guaranteed success. of Imagination: Ethnographic Explorations of
the Postcolonial State, Durham, NC: Duke
Concluding remarks University Press.
Mann, M. (1986) Social Sources of State Power,
This chapter has explored different dimen- Volume 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University
sions of statehood, the state apparatus, and Press.
state power as well as broader issues of gov- Miller, P. and Rose, N. (2008) Governing the
ernance and metagovernance. It has used Present. Administering Economic, Social and
occasional references to the local and regional Personal Life, Cambridge: Polity.
aspects of these complex phenomena but it Scharpf, F.W. (1994) ‘Games real actors could play:
has proved impossible to explore these aspects positive and negative co-ordination in embed-
in detail because of the priority of setting out ded negotiations’, Journal of Theoretical Politics,
the broader theoretical framework. If readers 6 (1), 27–53.
have found the latter interesting, they must Scott, J.C. (1998) Seeing Like a State, How Certain
now face the challenge of applying it in these Scheme to Improve the Human Conditions Have
fields. Failed, New Haven:Yale University Press.
Slaughter, A.M. (2004) A New World Order,
References Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Torfing, J. and Sørensen, E. (eds) (2007) Theories of
Arts, B., Langendijk, A. and van Houtum, H. Democratic Network Governance, Basingstoke:
(eds) (2009) The Disoriented State: Shifts in Palgrave.
Governmentality, Territoriality and Governance, Weber, M. (1948) ‘Politics as a vocation’, in Essays
Heidelberg: Springer. from Max Weber, London: Routledge & Kegan
Paul.
Bratsis, P. (2006) Everyday Life and the State, Zeitlin, J.M. and Trubek, D. (eds) (2003) Governing
London: Anthem. Work and Welfare in a New Economy. European
and American Experiments, Oxford: Oxford
Collinge, C. (1999) ‘Self-organization of society University Press.
by scale: a spatial reworking of regulation
theory’, Environment and Planning D: Society Further reading
and Space, 17 (5), 557–574.
The state
Cox, K. (1998) ‘Spaces of dependence, spaces of
engagement and the politics of scale: looking Jessop, B. (1990) State Theory: Putting the Capitalist
State in its Place, Cambridge: Polity.

Painter, J. and Jeffrey, A. (2009) Political Geography:
An Introduction to Space and Power, London:
Sage (second edition).

247

BOB JESSOP

Applying the approach Bringing governance in

Brenner, N. (2004) New State Spaces: Urban Bevir, M. (ed.) (2010) The Sage Handbook of
Governance and the Rescaling of Statehood, Governance, London: Sage.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Miller, P. and Rose, N. (2008) Governing the Present,
Jessop, B. (1990) The Future of the Capitalist State, Cambridge: Polity.
Cambridge:Polity.

248

21

Putting ‘the political’ back into the region
Power, agency and a reconstituted regional

political economy

Andrew Cumbers and Danny MacKinnon

Introduction the instrumentalist or ‘negative’ notion of
power ‘over’ others, whereby particular actors
The concept of power has been present subject others to their will. According to
within regional studies since at least the Dahl’s influential definition, “A has power
1970s, when the introduction of Marxist over B to the extent that he or she can get B
perspectives led to regions being analysed in to do something that B would not otherwise
the context of wider processes of capital do” (Dahl 1957, quoted in Sharp et al. 2000: 5).
accumulation and uneven development (e.g. This meaning of power underpinned the
Massey 1979). Power was also implicated in community power debates of the 1960s and
parallel debates over underdevelopment and 1970s in which pluralists argued that power
dependency theory in the related field of was dispersed between different local groups
Development Studies concerned with how whilst elitists contended that it was wielded
the Global South (developing countries) by a particular set of actors (the elite) within
continued to be exploited by the North the community (see Stoker 1995).The second
through relations of informal imperialism meaning, by contrast, views power as an asso-
(Potter et al. 2008) Until recently, however, ciational process where people come together
there was a surprising lack of conceptual dis- to develop collective projects in the pursuit
cussion about the role of power in local and of shared goals. This is a more positive or
regional development. In particular, regional ‘softer’ sense of the power to get things done
studies and economic geography have lagged with power playing a facilitating rather than
behind other areas of social science in enga- a constraining role.
ging with post-structuralist conceptions of
power (see Deleuze and Guattari 1987, Post-structuralist conceptions of power
Foucault 1980, Latour 1993). have become increasingly influential across
the social sciences and humanities in recent
Conventionally, power has been viewed as decades,viewing power as a fluid and dynamic
a fixed capacity that is held or possessed by a medium that is constructed and exercised
particular individual, group or organisation through specific discourses and forms of
(Allen 2003). This definition of power as knowledge that permeate society (Allen
a ‘centred’ capacity identifies two distinct 2003, Deleuze and Guattari 1987, Foucault
forms of power relation (ibid.). First, there is 1980, Latour 1993, Sharp et al. 2000).

249

ANDREW CUMBERS AND DANNY MACKINNON

This approach has begun to filter into uneven development of capitalist social rela-
regional studies in recent years, particularly tions (MacKinnon et al. 2009, Smith 1984),
through the concept of the ‘relational region’ incorporating certain post-structuralist
(Allen and Cochrane 2007, Allen et al. 1998, insights on power, networks and space. We
MacLeod and Jones 2007). From this per- begin by assessing recent regional develop-
spective, regions are increasingly viewed as ment discourses of established conceptions
sites of ongoing social processes between of power.We then discuss some of the possi-
competing forces and actors rather than as bilities and limitations of relational accounts
coherent and fixed entities. According to of power and space. This is followed by a
Allen and Cochrane (2007: 1163): discussion of how certain post-structuralist
insights might be integrated into a ‘new’
The diverse ways in which the ‘coher- political economy approach to local and
ence’ of a region is constructed and regional development.
acted upon by different, and often new,
political actors is the result of a com- Power in local and regional
plex set of political mobilisations at development: orthodox
any one point in time […] the inven- approaches
tion and reinvention of regions is a
constant. Power has rarely been an explicit theme of
the ‘new regionalist’ literature of the 1990s
By viewing regions as ‘open, discontinuous and early 2000s, underpinned by the belief
spaces’ (Allen et al. 1998: 5), the concept of that regions had become more prominent as
the relational region challenges traditional units of economic organisation and political
views of regions as territorially bounded or action (Amin 1999, Lovering 1999, Morgan
enmeshed in a hierarchy of nested scales (i.e. 1997). Nonetheless, certain strands of ‘new
regional, national, supra-national, global). regionalist’ research were informed by an
Instead, relational thinking views ‘the region’ implicit notion of power derived from stud-
as part of a set of horizontal spatial networks ies of urban governance and urban regime
connecting the local with the global, theory in particular (Stoker 1995), involving
informed by the actor-network theory of a blending of interests as private ‘rentier’
Latour (1993). groups and local government came together
to promote cities and attract mobile invest-
In this chapter, we aim critically to assess ment (cf. Logan and Molotch 1987).
the value of post-structuralist conceptions of
power in relation to underlying processes of For instance, the concept of territorial
local and regional development. In so doing, innovation systems is based on leading firms,
we recognise that they provide important universities, research institutes and regional
insights into the fluid and dynamic processes government agencies working together to
by which localities and regions are con- promote innovation (Cooke 1997). Accor-
structed.At the same time, however, we agree ding to Asheim (2000: 427), the govern-
with Hudson (2007) that regions continue to ance of territorial innovation systems is based
be the site of historically rooted and territo- on close “university–industry cooperation,
rially embedded social relations (MacKinnon where large and smaller firms establish net-
et al. 2009). Accordingly, we argue for work relationships with other firms, univer-
the development of a revived and reconsti- sities, research institutes, and government
tuted (‘new’) political economy approach agencies based on public–private partner-
(Goodwin 2004, Hudson 2006).This empha- ships”. The concept of a territorial innova-
sises the institutionalised processes through tion system overlaps substantially with the
which regions evolve as part of the spatially

250

PUT T IN G ‘ TH E POLITIC AL’ BAC K IN TO TH E R EGION

interactive model of innovation developed multinational corporations control mainstream
by theorists of innovation (Freeman 1994). commodity chains (Morgan et al. 2006).
In place of the traditional linear conception
of innovation focused on large corporations In general terms, as Allen (2003) argues,
and formal research and development in sci- the conception of power as a ‘centred’ capac-
entific laboratories, the interactive approach ity conflates the possession of the resources
views new and improved products and serv- upon which power resides and the actual
ices as emerging out of collaboration between exercise of that power. As a result of its reli-
different organisations, particularly large cor- ance upon this approach, ‘new regionalist’
porations and their suppliers, but also involv- research has seriously under-estimated the
ing universities, industry bodies, research difficulties encountered by dominant coali-
institutes and government agencies (Cooke tions in the negotiation and implementation
and Morgan 1998). of particular agendas and projects, failing to
allow sufficient scope for contestation and
The influential work of the 1980s and resistance (MacKinnon et al. 2002).
early 1990s on industrial districts also incor-
porated a sense of power as a collective capac- There has also been little interest in une-
ity. As a number of scholars stressed, the qual power relationships between different
success of the Italian districts was deeply interests and groups. Research on territorial
rooted in local institutions and culture (Amin innovation systems and ‘learning regions’
2000). Within the strongly communitarian (Cooke 1997, Morgan 1997), for instance,
political cultures of Central and North views relations between firms in the supply
Eastern Italy (socialist in Tuscany and Emilia- chain as harmonious and collaborative,
Romagna, Catholic in Veneto), political prompting some case study research into the
parties, local authorities, labour unions, unequal relations between transnational cor-
industry associations and chambers of com- porations (TNCs) and small and medium-
merce developed a sophisticated reservoir of sized enterprises (SMEs) (Christopherson
knowledge, skills and resources for the use of and Clark 2007), which may involve the
firms and entrepreneurs. In particular, the former exercising power ‘over’ the latter.
sharing of knowledge and ideas between Other research has assessed the potential for
small firms facilitated incremental forms of regional institutional capacity to be ‘captured’
continuous innovation, although critics such by TNCs in the face of intense inter-regional
as Harrison (1997) argued that the emphasis competition for mobile investment (Phelps
on small firm innovation was overstated 2000). By contrast, in the research on alter-
in the face of the continued dominance of native food networks cited above,‘soft’ power
large firms. is invoked without much recognition of the
scope for conflict (Morgan et al. 2006). This
The emphasis on collaborative inter-firm reflects how the prevailing conception of power
and inter-organisational relations also reflects as an associational capacity privileges coop-
the influence of network approaches. For eration over competition (Markusen 1996),
instance, Cooke and Morgan (1993) advocated failing to attach sufficient weight to one of
the network paradigm as a new approach the key underlying imperatives of capitalism.
to regional development, emphasising the
interactive and cooperative properties of ‘Spatial vocabularies of power’:
‘flat’ horizontal networks compared to verti- relational approaches
cal hierarchies and markets based on eco-
nomic rationality. More recently, researchers In contrast to the rather narrow conception
have contrasted the ‘softer’ kinds of power of power that characterises much of the exist-
evident in alternative food networks against ing work in regional development studies,
the hierarchical relations by which larger
251

ANDREW CUMBERS AND DANNY MACKINNON

a number of human geographers have devel- modes of power and the relations of prox-
oped more sophisticated and multi-faceted imity and reach through which they are
perspectives on the operation of power, draw- exercised spatially. Other modes of power
ing upon post-structural theories (Allen besides domination and expertise include:
2003, Massey 2005, Sharp et al. 2000). One coercion, grounded in the threat of force or
key source of inspiration here is Michel negative sanctions; manipulation, involving
Foucault’s ‘capillary’ conception of power as the concealment of intent; seduction, which
a fluid and mobile medium which circulates engages subjects’ own interests and desires;
throughout society (Foucault 1980, Sharp and negotiation and persuasion, which are
et al. 2000). Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) associated with associational forms of power
writings also evoke a similar sense of the fluid through the construction of shared agendas.
and ‘unfolding’ properties of power, reflect- Interestingly, Allen suggests that the ‘softer’
ing the immanence of the social relations types of power relation such as seduction and
between people and things. manipulation often have a greater spatial
reach than authority.The fact that the latter is
Informed by such post-structuralist con- dependent upon recognition by others means
ceptions, Allen (2003) defines power as a that direct presence is often important, while
relational effect of social interaction. In place domination often triggers an opposing reac-
of the conventional geographical assump- tion (Sharp et al. 2000). From the perspective
tion that power is territorially bounded and of ‘getting things done’ at the regional level,
organised across nested spatial scales (the key organisations such as RDAs remain
local, the regional, the national, etc.), Allen dependent on localised interactions and the
favours a more open topological approach generation of trust between social actors,
which sees power as a product of the net- in order to achieve particular ends. In this
works and associations constructed across respect, despite the limitations highlighted
space. This offers the important insight that above, the ‘positive’ conception of power as a
the possession of power must be distinguished collective capacity (Cooke and Morgan
from the actual exercise or activation of this 1998) remains valuable for research on local
power (Allen 2003). As such, it is the proc- and regional development.
esses through which power is exercised in
particular temporal and spatial contexts that Before turning to our ‘new’ political
generate discernible material effects rather economy approach, we offer three critical
than the mere possession of power itself. For comments on post-structuralist conceptions
example, regional development agencies in of power and space. First, such approaches
England have the capacity and resources to tend to restrict power to questions of its
develop regional economic strategies as the exercise and effects (Allen 2003), arguing
result of a specific Act of Parliament ( Jones that power is performed through the con-
2001, Pike and Tomaney 2009a).Yet it is the struction of spatially extensive networks and
activation of these powers, partly through the associations rather than being possessed by
implementation of their respective strategies, ‘centred’ organisations and interests. While
that allows RDAs to have material effects on this approach raises exciting new research
the performance of the regional economy. questions, power does not need to be viewed
This is crucially dependent upon building in such binary terms (MacLeod and Jones
relations with a host of other regional organi- 2007).The rejection of conventional notions
sations and interests (e.g. firms, business net- of power as a capacity seems overly narrow
works, universities, local government and trade and limiting, undermining the vital distinc-
unions), requiring frequent liaison and support. tion between capacity or potential and effects
by conceptually privileging the latter over
One of the major contributions of Allen’s the former (Sayer 2004). In response, there is
(2003) work is to distinguish between different

252

PUT T IN G ‘ TH E POLITIC AL’ BAC K IN TO TH E R EGION

a need to recover a sense of power as capacity, struggles whose objective is the possession
alongside the concern with effects, focusing of power and its operationalisation and
attention on the practical ‘entanglements’ reproduction in particular places (under cap-
of different forms of power (Sharp et al. italism surplus value is the dominant though
2000). A fruitful line of inquiry here may not the only measure of economic power).
be to examine uneven flows of power within Fundamentally, a political economy perspec-
and between regions, raising the intriguing tive emphasises the social and political proc-
research question of the extent to which esses surrounding the formation of the
uneven flows of power become temporarily human landscape over time and the stubborn
‘congealed’ around particular regional organ- territorial ‘permanences’ that are constructed
isations and interests. out of these processes (Harvey 1996). This
raises important questions of agency – argu-
Second, topological perspectives also seem ably underplayed in the writings of Harvey
to neglect the role of prior processes of his- and other political economic theorists – con-
torical sedimentation through which regions cerning the social groups and interests that
are constructed (MacLeod and Jones 2001, construct such permanences. While this is
Paasi 1996). Fundamentally, relational per- largely an empirical question, it directs atten-
spectives underplay the weight of inherited tion towards the role of regional elites in
forms of attachment and belonging, reflect- regulating conflictual social relations through
ing the theoretical and political agenda of the mobilisation of distinctive ideological
developing a progressive sense of place which and political apparatuses (Lipietz 1994). Such
originally inspired them (Massey 1994).This ‘permanences’ are, of course, always tempo-
point is also evident in relation to the terri- rary, being subject to transformation through
torial embeddedness of global justice net- social processes that are open, contested and
works in terms of how these are constructed contradictory, reflecting the dialectical ten-
out of temporally and spatially specific prac- sions between fixity and mobility (Harvey
tices and resources (Cumbers et al. 2008). 1982, 1996).
We can only understand why some regions
become sites for resistance and alternative Towards a ‘new’ regional
political projects at a particular moment in political economy: evolution,
time (e.g. Red Clydeside, Red Bologna or power and institutions
the Zapatistas in Chiapas) if we understand
how they are constituted through past strug- In this section, we aim to develop a more
gles and conflicts in uneven and variegated integrated approach which remains rooted in
ways, endowing them with certain properties a historical-geographical political economy
and identities (MacLeod and Jones 2001, perspective while acknowledging the fluidity
Paasi 1996). Regions are, of course, subject to and relationality of power (Harvey 2006,
subsequent processes of transformation and Swyngedouw 1997). We favour a dialectical
‘becoming’, but inherited attachments con- ontology which emphasises the role of class
dition how these processes are played out. relations and struggles over value capture in
driving processes of capital accumulation
Third, the undoubted appeal of relational over time and across space (Harvey 1996).
approaches in liberating research from tradi- For capital, fixity is as important as mobility
tional conceptions of space and power is cast for particular periods so as to secure surplus
into sharp focus by the entrenched contours value. For some local and regional actors,
of uneven development under capitalism.To concerned with the promotion of sustainable
return to the fundamentals of Harvey’s orig- economic development, efforts to capture a
inal insights on the spatial fix (see Harvey
1982), spatial inequalities between cities and 253
regions are the result of past and existing

ANDREW CUMBERS AND DANNY MACKINNON

share of value from increasingly globalised the meta-narratives of globalisation and
production networks in the face of competi- competitiveness (Grabher 1993, Birch et al.
tion from other regions (Coe et al. 2004, 2009). Institutional legacies can, in this sense,
Smith et al. 2002) involve the exercising of exhibit powers of conditioning and con-
particular forms of power. straint. As we have argued elsewhere (see
MacKinnon et al. 2009), however, research
Our ‘new’ political economy approach must avoid the dangers of over-socialisation
(see Goodwin 2004, Hudson 2006) is open whereby specific ‘carriers of history’ (institu-
to the intersections between the fluid and tions, habits, technologies, firms) impart
immanent properties of power and histori- strong, self-reinforcing continuities which
cally rooted and sedimented social relations. structure processes of regional economic
It is supported by a critical realist philoso- evolution (Hudson 2005). In this respect,
phy which contends that capitalist social post-structuralist conceptions of power are
relations and the creation of value have a real particularly persuasive because of their
existence, although they are always known emphasis on fluidity, openness and power as a
and represented through particular cultural process (Sharp et al. 2000). This helps to
and discursive formations (Bhaskar 1989). restore agency to regional actors operating in
Such an approach emphasises the importance the context of certain pre-existing regional
of regional diversity and variety within an trajectories and practices.
uneven economic landscape, echoing the
concerns of the neo-Marxist economic Understanding the operation of regional
geography of the 1980s and early 1990s (see power relations therefore requires a sense of
Massey 1995, Storper and Walker 1989). regional evolution in the context of a broader
landscape of uneven development, an aware-
In addition, our ‘new’ political economy ness of institutional practices and the opera-
approach adopts an evolutionary methodo- tion of the different modalities of power in
logy, highlighting the role of history and more and across specific regional spaces. Here, we
specifically, path dependency, in shaping con- turn to recent research into the economic
temporary patterns of regional development geography of the life sciences industry by
(MacKinnon et al. 2009, Pike et al. 2009). It way of illustration (Birch and Cumbers
conceptualises the evolution of the economic 2009). This reveals a significant instance of
landscape in terms of the interaction between ‘regional success’ in the development of a
pre-existing regional variety and market- Scottish ‘life sciences’ cluster.Against a back-
based selection mechanisms (MacKinnon drop of industrial decline, over-dependence
et al. 2009). Institutions play a crucial role in upon footloose foreign investment and an
mediating such interaction, resulting in path older (but still relevant) image of a branch
dependence and uneven development. plant economy, the life sciences cluster is sig-
nificant as one of the few sectors to create
We view our evolutionary political econ- professional and skilled employment and
omy perspective as offering an important one that largely comprises small local
corrective to the rather timeless purview of knowledge-intensive firms (ibid.)
power and space apparent in relational think-
ing about regions which effectively erases Understanding the cluster’s emergence
prior processes of historical construction and requires an approach that is not only able to
sedimentation ( Jones 2009).The importance situate it within the historical trajectory of
of such processes is highlighted by the prob- Scotland’s political economy and broader
lems facing old industrial regions, where the processes of uneven development, but is also
legacy of past forms of specialisation and alert to the operation of the different modal-
associated social and cultural practices can ities of power set out above.In the first instance,
stymie attempts at economic modernisation a long tradition of bio-medical research in
and restructuring, developed in response to

254

PUT T IN G ‘ TH E POLITIC AL’ BAC K IN TO TH E R EGION

Scottish universities, allied to public sector A final piece of the political-institutional
support for medical research dating back to jigsaw is the compelling evidence that
the 1940s, were critical factors in the cluster’s Scottish enterprise has ‘learnt’ from earlier
initial emergence. While these regional and mistakes in its approach to regional develop-
national institutional arrangements have been ment policy over a period of three decades of
critical, the growth of the Scottish life sci- policy experimentation, avoiding ‘cognitive
ences cluster has been facilitated by wider lock-in’ (Grabher 1993). This is apparent in
spatial networks from the outset. Of particu- its support for local indigenous enterprise
lar importance are the global knowledge and its provision of longer term support for
communities within which Scottish scientists innovation within the life sciences cluster.
and academics operate, and a considerable The evolution of this policy at the Scottish
Scottish scientific diaspora which is repro- level has been based on sustained collabora-
duced by flows of labour and knowledge of tion between key actors in government,
varying durations to and from ‘the region’. universities and the business sector, facilitated
by a shared commitment to the prosperity
The growth of the cluster in recent dec- of Scotland as a pre-defined regional space
ades reflects the ability of Scottish actors to (MacLeod 1998), and drawing upon the
leverage power and capture value (in the institutional memory of past successes and
form of new firm formation and employ- failures in economic development policy. In
ment) from networks controlled by large this sense, the development of a life sciences
TNCs. This suggests the operation of fluid cluster can be seen as an ‘effect’ of innovation
and dynamic power relations that provide and the construction of relationships between
opportunities for small and newer actors to government agencies, researchers and entre-
reposition themselves within global produc- preneurs. At the same time, however, power
tion networks. In this case, Scottish life sci- is also ‘centred’, congealing around key
ence success is explained by the particular organisations and individuals, granting them
positionality (see Sheppard 2002) of Scottish a limited capacity to shape the evolution of
scientists and firms as originators of new the cluster within global production net-
products and intellectual property (particu- works controlled by TNCs based elsewhere.
larly in the field of healthcare, diagnostics,
agriculture and environmental services) in a Conclusions
sector that is heavily knowledge-dependent
(Birch and Cumbers 2009). As we argued in the introduction to this
chapter, regional studies and economic geog-
Despite its success, the long-run evolution raphy have tended to lag behind other parts
of the life sciences cluster still has to confront of the social sciences and humanities in their
the asymmetrical power relations in which it engagement with post-structuralist concep-
is embedded. The major players and final tions of power.The prevailing conception of
customers of the Scottish life sciences sector power in local and regional development
are European (predominantly Swiss) and studies is the associational sense of power as a
US pharmaceutical multinationals which collective capacity generated in the pursuit of
play a key role in coordinating and control- a shared agenda. By contrast, post-structuralist
ling production networks. A key constraint theories view power as a fluid and mobile
on the cluster is the limited availability of medium, informed particularly by Foucault’s
finance (particularly venture capital) for firm ‘capillary’approach.Drawing upon these ideas,
growth (compared to the South East of Allen (2003) defines power as a relational
England), and its attendant inability to foster effect of social interaction, distinguishing
larger ‘lead’ firms capable of playing a more
strategic role within the global life sciences 255
network (ibid.)

ANDREW CUMBERS AND DANNY MACKINNON

between the possession of power and the with economic development strategies emerg-
actual exercising or activation of this power ing out of efforts by regional elites to fit wider
in particular contexts. In response, we argued narratives such as the knowledge economy
that power can be both a capacity and effect, to the perceived needs of regional econo-
raising questions about the practical entan- mies. In principle, our ‘new’ political econ-
glement of different forms of power (Sharp omy approach is applicable to regional
et al. 2000).Relational approaches to regional economic development in both the Global
development also tend to neglect the prior North and South, emphasising the interac-
processes of historical construction and sedi- tion between local and regional conditions
mentation through which regions are con- and wider processes of uneven development.
structed. Finally, there is a need to relate flows
of power to processes of uneven develop- References
ment and the creation of spatial ‘fixes’ and
‘permanences’ (Harvey 1982, 1996). Allen, J. (2003) Lost Geographies of Power,
Blackwell, Oxford.
Our interest in the development of a ‘new’
political economy approach is informed by Allen, J. and Cochrane,A. (2007) ‘Beyond the ter-
these criticisms of relational accounts of ritorial fix: regional assemblages, politics and
space and power.This approach is concerned power’, Regional Studies 41, 1161–1175.
with capitalist social relations, value creation
and uneven development while remaining Allen, J., Massey, D. and Cochrane, A. (1998)
open to post-structuralist insights regarding Rethinking the Region, Routledge, London.
the fluid and immanent properties of power.
We adopt an evolutionary methodology, Amin,A. (1999) ‘An institutionalist perspective on
viewing uneven development as the product regional economic development’, International
of an institutionally mediated process of Journal of Urban and Regional Research 23,
interaction between pre-existing regional 365–378.
variety and market-based selection mecha-
nisms (MacKinnon et al. 2009). While Amin, A. (2000) ‘Industrial districts’, in Sheppard,
institutional legacies exhibit powers of con- E.and Barnes,T.J.(eds) A Companion to Economic
ditioning and constraint, accounts of local Geography, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 149–168.
and regional ‘path dependency’ must avoid
an over-socialised approach whereby past Asheim, B.T. (2000) ‘Industrial districts: the con-
practices are seen to almost determine future tributions of Marshall and beyond’, in Clark,
choices. In this context, post-structuralist G., Feldmann, M.L. and Gertler, M.S. The
conceptions of power relations as open and Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography,Oxford
fluid can make an important contribution by University Press, Oxford, pp. 413–431.
restoring agency to regional actors. Indeed,
we would argue that research on the practical Bhaskar, R. (1989) Reclaiming Reality: A Critical
entanglements of power in processes of local Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy, Verso,
and regional development should examine London.
the processes of ‘fixing’ by which particular
actors and interests seek to stabilise and freeze Birch, K. and Cumbers,A. (2009) Strengthening the
fluid power relations in order to generate Life Sciences in Scotland Policy Report, Centre for
and capture value within global production Public Policy for Regions,Universities of Glasgow
networks. As our example of the Scottish and Strathclyde, Glasgow.
biotechnology industry indicates, the exer-
cise of purposive agency for development Birch, K., MacKinnon, D. and Cumbers,A. (2009)
is often a product of such ‘fixing’ processes ‘Old industrial regions in Europe: a compara-
tive assessment of economic performance’,
256 Regional Studies, 44(1): 35–53.

Christopherson, S. and Clark, J. (2007) ‘Power in
firm networks: what it means for regional
innovation systems’, Regional Studies 41,
1223–1236.

Coe, N., Hess, M.,Yeung, H.W.C., Dicken, P. and
Henderson, J. (2004) ‘“Globalizing” regional
development: a global production networks
perspective’, Transactions of the Institute of British
Geographers NS 29, 468–484.

Cooke, P. (1997) ‘Regions in a global market: the
experiences of Wales and Baden-Württemberg’,

PUT T IN G ‘ TH E POLITIC AL’ BAC K IN TO TH E R EGION

Review of International Political Economy 4, comments upon theory and practice’, Regional
349–381. Studies 41, 1149–1160.
Cooke, P. and Morgan, K. (1993) ‘The network Jones, M. (2001) ‘The rise of the regional state
paradigm: new departures in corporate in economic governance: ‘partnerships for
and regional development’, Environment and prosperity’ or new scales of state power?’,
Planning D: Society and Space 11, 543–564. Environment and Planning A 33, 1185–1211.
Cooke, P. and Morgan, K. (1998) The Associational Jones, M. (2009) ‘Phase space: geography, rela-
Economy: Firms, Regions, and Innovation, Oxford tional thinking, and beyond’, Progress in
University Press, Oxford. Human Geography 1–20. Onlinefirst, doi:
Cumbers, A., MacKinnon, D. and McMaster, R. 10.1177/0309132508101599.
(2003) ‘Institutions, power and space: assessing Latour, B. (1993) We Have Never Been Modern,
the limits to institutionalism in economic Harvester Wheatsheaf, Hemel Hempstead.
geography’, European Urban and Regional Lipietz, A (1994) ‘The national and the regional:
Studies 10, 325–342. their autonomy vis-à-vis the capitalist world
Cumbers,A., Routledge, P. and Nativel, C. (2008) crisis’, in Palan, R. and Gills, B. Transcending the
‘The entangled geographies of global justice State–Global Divide: a Neo-Structuralist Agenda
networks’, Progress in Human Geography 32, in International Relations, Lynne Reimer:
183–201. London, pp. 23–43.
Deleuze, G. and Guttari, F. (1987) A Thousand Logan, J. and Molotch, H. (1987) Urban Fortunes:
Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, trans. B. The Political Economy of Place, University of
Massumi, University of Minnesota Press, California Press, Berkeley, CA.
Minneapolis. Lovering, J. (1999) ‘Theory led by policy: the
Foucault, M. (1980) Power/Knowledge Selected inadequacies of the “new regionalism” (illus-
Interviews, Harvester Wheatsheaf, Hemel trated from the case of Wales)’, International
Hempstead. Journal of Urban and Regional Research 23,
Freeman, C. (1994) ‘The economics of technical 379–395.
change’, Cambridge Journal of Economics 18, MacKinnon, D., Cumbers, A. and Chapman, K.
463–514. (2002) ‘Learning, innovation and regional
Goodwin, M. (2004) ‘Recovering the future: a renewal: a critical appraisal of current debates
post-disciplinary perspective on geography in regional development studies’, Progress in
and political economy’, in Cloke, P., Crang, P. Human Geography 26, 293–311.
and Goodwin, M. (eds) Envisioning Human MacKinnon, D., Cumbers, A., Birch, K., Pike, A.
Geographies,Arnold, London, pp. 65–80. and McMaster, R. (2009) ‘Evolution in eco-
Grabher, G. (1993) ‘The weakness of strong ties: nomic geography: institutions, political econ-
the lock-in of regional development in the omy and regional adaptation’, Economic
Ruhr area’, in Grabher G. (ed.) The Embedded Geography 85, 129–150.
Firm: On the Socio-economics of Industrial MacLeod, G. (1998) ‘In what sense a region? Place
Networks, Routledge, London, pp. 255–277. hybridity, symbolic shape and institutional for-
Harrison, B. (1997) Lean and Mean. Why Large mation in (post) modern Scotland’, Political
Corporations Will Continue to Dominate the Geography 17, 833–863.
Global Economy, Guildford Press, New York. MacLeod, G. and Jones, M. (2001) ‘Renewing the
Harvey, D. (1982) The Limits to Capital, Blackwell, geography of regions’,Environment and Planning
Oxford. D’, Society and Space 19, 669–695.
Harvey, D. (1996) Justice, Nature and the Geography MacLeod, G. and Jones, M. (2007) ‘Territorial,
of Difference, Blackwell, Oxford. scalar, networked, connected: in what sense
Harvey, D. (2006) Spaces of Global Captialism: a “regional world”?’, Regional Studies 241,
Towards a Theory of Uneven Geographical 1177–1191.
Development,Verso, London. Markusen, A. (1996) ‘Sticky places in slippery
Hudson, R. (2005) ‘Rethinking change in old space: a typology of industrial districts’,
industrial regions: reflecting on the experi- Economic Geography 72, 293–313.
ences of North East England’, Environment and Massey, D. (1979) ‘In what sense a regional
Planning A 37, 581–596. problem?’, Regional Studies 13, 233–243.
Hudson, R. (2006) ‘On what’s right and keeping Massey, D. (1994) ‘A global sense of place’, in
left: or why geography still needs Marxian Massey, D. (ed.) Place, Space and Gender, Polity,
political economy’, Antipode 38, 374–395. Cambridge, pp. 146–156.
Hudson, R. (2007) ‘Regions and regional Massey, D. (1995) Spatial Divisions of Labour,
uneven development forever? Some reflective Second Edition, Basingstoke: Macmillan.

257

ANDREW CUMBERS AND DANNY MACKINNON

Massey, D. (2005) For Space, Sage, London. Storper, M. and Walker, R. (1989) The Capitalist
Morgan, K. (1997) ‘The learning region: institu- Imperative: Territory, Technology and Industrial
Growth, Blackwell: Oxford.
tions, innovation and regional renewal’,
Regional Studies 31, 491–504. Swyngedouw, E. (1997) ‘Neither global nor local:
Morgan, K., Marsden, T. and Murdoch, J. (2006) “glocalisation” and the politics of scale’, in
Worlds of Food: Place, Provenance and Power in the K. Cox (ed.) Spaces of Globalization, Guilford
Food Chain, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Press, New York, pp. 137–66.
Paasi,A. (1996) Borders,Territories and Consciousness:
The Changing Geographies of the Finnish–Russian Further reading
Border, John Wiley, Chichester.
Phelps, N.A. (2000) ‘The locally embedded multi- Traditional approaches to power in
national and institutional capture’, Area 32, regional development
179–188.
Pike,A. and Tomaney, J. (2009) ‘The governance of Asheim, B.T. (2000) ‘Industrial districts: the
economic development in England in post- contributions of Marshall and beyond’, in
devolution UK’, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Clark, G., Feldmann, M.L. and Gertler, M.S
Economy and Society 2, 13–34. The Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography,
Pike, A., Birch, K., Cumbers, A., MacKinnon, D. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 413–431.
and McMaster, R. (2009) ‘A geographical
political economy of evolution in economic Cumbers, A., MacKinnon D. and McMaster, R.
geography’, Economic Geography 85, 175–182. (2003) ‘Institutions, power and space: assessing
Potter, R.B., Binns, T., Elliott, J.A. and Smith, D. the limits to institutionalism in economic
(2008) Geographies of Development, Third geography’, European Urban and Regional
Edition, Pearson, Harlow. Studies 10, 325–342.
Sayer, A. (2004) ‘Seeking the geographies of
power’, Economy and Society 33, 255–270. On ‘Spatial vocabularies
Sharp, J., Routledge, P., Philo, C. and Paddison, R. of power’
(2000) ‘Entanglements of power: geographies
of domination/resistance’, in Sharp, J., Allen,J.(2003) Lost Geographies of Power, Blackwell,
Routledge, P., Philo, C. and Paddison, R. Oxford.
(eds) Entanglements of Power: Geographies of
Domination/Resistance, Routledge, London, Allen, J. and Cochrane,A. (2007) ‘Beyond the ter-
pp. 1–42. ritorial fix: regional assemblages, politics and
Shepheard, E. (2002) ‘The spaces and times of power’, Regional Studies 41,1161–1175.
globalization: place, scale, networks, and posi-
tionality’, Economic Geography 78(3): 307–330. On a ‘new regional political
Smith, A., Rainnie, A., Dunford, M., Hardy, J., economy’
Hudson, R. and Sadler, D. (2002) ‘Networks of
value, commodities and regions: reworking MacKinnon, D., Cumbers, A., Birch, K., Pike, A.
divisions of labour in macro-regional econo- and McMaster, R. (2009) ‘Evolution in eco-
mies’, Progress in Human Geography 26, 41–63. nomic geography: institutions, political econ-
Smith, N. (1984) Uneven Development: Nature, omy and regional adaptation’, Economic
Capital and the Production of Space, Blackwell, Geography 85, 129–150.
Oxford.
Stoker, G. (1995) ‘Regime theory and urban poli-
tics’, in Judge, D., Stoker, G. and Wolman, H.
Theories of Urban Politics, Sage, London,
pp. 54–71.

258

22

Territorial/relational
Conceptualizing spatial economic

governance

Martin Jones and Gordon MacLeod

Introduction processes through which certain territorial
units emerge as a part of the spatial structure
This chapter forms part the ongoing project of society and become “established and
to research the governance of local and clearly identified in different spheres of social
regional economic development in the action and social consciousness” (1986: 121).
United Kingdom following the era of poli- Stretching this terminology further, the post-
tical devolution and constitutional change. 1997 institutional accomplishments enacted
Since 1997, the political geographical pro- in the name of devolution have led the UK
cesses of the UK have been altered through to undergo a substantial re-institutionalization
the granting of an elected Parliament for of the policy landscape for governing eco-
Scotland, a National Assembly for Wales, an nomic development.This has proved to be a
Assembly for Northern Ireland, an elected particularly interesting process for generating
London Mayor and Greater London research over the past decade (Tewdwr-Jones
Assembly, alongside Regional Development and Allmedinger 2006).
Agencies for the eight English regions. Each
of these institutions are, to varying degrees, Our chapter introduces two theoretical
charged with responsibilities for generating approaches that in recent years have been
and orchestrating economic development, deployed to interpret UK devolution and
against which they are being judged within related prospects for economic governance.
the contemporary uncertain political climate. First, we examine how UK devolution
has come to be conceptualized as a re-
As we have argued elsewhere ( Jones and configuration and rescaling of the territorial
MacLeod 2004; MacLeod and Jones 2007), state. We then consider an alternative
when analysing such an asymmetrical politi- approach, which has in part arisen out of a
cal landscape of economic development, it backlash against such territorial and scalar per-
behoves researchers to appreciate the parti- spectives, and which advocates a self-styled
cular economic, cultural and political dis- ‘relational’ approach to space and topological
courses, practices and inflections around and as opposed to topographical conceptualiza-
through which its nations and regions are, in tions of spatiality. Following a synthetic over-
Anssi Paasi’s terms, institutionalized. In other view of these two approaches, we aim to
words we need to appreciate the socio-spatial transcend this potential theoretical impasse

259

MARTIN JONES AND GORDON MACLEOD

by demonstrating how each can offer a fruit- “politics of scalar structuration’ (Brenner
ful analysis of different expressions of devo- 2001, 2004, 2009) might prove instructive in
lution and the governance of economic examining the territorial character of UK
development across the UK landscape. This devolution.This approach “connotes a devel-
argument is then presented through a discus- opmental dynamic in which the basic struc-
sion of: (1) the struggle to institutionalize tures of collective social action are continually
the South West of England as a geopolitical reproduced, modified and transformed in
unit; and (2) endeavours to foster a defini- and through collective social action” and in
tively new region called The Northern Way. doing so, highlights how “[p]rocesses of scalar
Through these case studies we underline structuration are constituted and continually
how these alternative territorial and topo- reworked through everyday social routines
logical perspectives can offer compatible – as and struggles” (Brenner 2001: 603).
opposed to entirely antagonistic – approaches
for interpreting the process of devolution, A fundamental premise of this approach,
state structuring, and economic governance. then, is that geographical scale is conceptual-
ized to be socially constructed rather than
Territorial approaches to the ontologically pre-given, and that through
geography of devolution this process geographic scales “are themselves
implicated in the constitution of social, eco-
One of the most discernible endeavours to nomic and political processes” (Delaney and
conceptualize UK devolution, particularly Leitner 1997: 93). Perhaps, then, we could
among political economic geographers and pre-empt the claims from ‘relational space’
planners, interprets it as a rescaling of the thinkers (below) by underlining how this is
state and a territorial reworking of the geo- very much a relational approach to scale
raphies of government and governance.This (Swyngedouw 1997; Howitt 2003), whereby
has been a key message in some analyses of scale is conceived as unfolding “relationally
England’s Regional Development Agencies within a community of producers and read-
( Jones and MacLeod 1999; Deas and Ward ers who give the practice of scale meaning”
2000; Gibbs and Jonas 2001) and the creation (K. Jones 1998: 27). It also infers that spatial
of Regional Spatial Strategies (Haughton scales – such as localities and regions and
and Counsell 2004; Bianconi et al. 2006). all those others associated with the territorial
Others inspired by the neo-Marxist state organization of the state – are not merely
theory of Bob Jessop (2002) conceptualize the settings of political conflicts but one of
this rescaling of economic governance as part their principal‘stakes’in this struggle (Brenner
and parcel of a ‘hollowing out’ of the national 2004). Thus, as cogently argued by Neil
state and a corresponding ‘filling in’ at other Brenner:
scales such as England’s regions,the Northern
Ireland Assembly, and the Welsh Assembly traditional Euclidian, Cartesian and
and its Regional Divisions (MacLeod and Westphalian notions of geographical
Goodwin 1999; Goodwin et al. 2005; Jones scale as a fixed, bounded, self-
et al. 2005; cf. Shaw et al. 2009). enclosed and pregiven container are
currently being superseded by a highly
To date, however, many of these scalar- productive emphasis on process, evo-
informed analyses of UK devolution have lution, dynamism and sociopolitical
deployed a relatively superficial reading of contestation.
the concept of rescaling. We contend that
a deeper engagement with the now highly (Brenner 2001: 603)
enriched theoretical vocabulary on the
In accordance with this foundational prin-
260 ciple, Swyngedouw had earlier made a

TER R ITOR IAL/R ELATION AL

compelling case for an ontologically process- geographical scales that channel and limit
based approach to scale that: their political horizons” (Agnew 1997: 101).

does not in itself assign greater validity A politics of scalar structuration approach
to a global or local [or we would add might also enable us to understand how
national or nation-state] perspective, England’s regional planning boundaries,
but alerts us to a series of sociospatial which were established during wartime in the
processes that changes the importance 1940s, came to represent active progenitors
and role of certain geographical scales, in shaping the post-1994 map of Regional
re-asserts the importance of others, Government Offices and the post-1999
and sometimes creates entirely new Regional Development Agencies (RDAs).
significant scales. Most importantly, And, in turn, through the introduction of
however, these scale redefinitions alter particular spatially selective policies and state
and express changes in the geometry strategies – state spatial strategies (Brenner
of social power by strengthening the 2004) – England’s newly revived regional
power and the control of some while scales are given additional licence to become
disempowering others. both the objects of state policy and active
subjects in delivering policy ( Jones and
(Swyngedouw 1997: 141–142) MacLeod 2004; Raco 2006). Not that any of
this should imply some Russian Doll-like
Furthermore, Jones (1998) informs us how neatly layered structure of territorial spheres
this process is performed through a politics each containing a discrete package of politi-
of representation whereby political agents cal powers and responsibilities. For as lucidly
discursively present their political struggles outlined by Jamie Peck, political strategies
across scales; action that, in turn, implicates and policy endeavours explicitly tangle and
spatial imaginaries like regions, localities, confound scales, with the result that:
cities and nation-states to be continuously
implicated as ‘active progenitors’, offering an the scalar location of specific political-
already partitioned geographical ‘scaffolding’ economic functions is historically and
around and through which such practices geographically contingent, not theo-
and struggles take place (N. Smith 2003; retically necessitated. Functions like
Brenner 2001, 2009). In our view, this frame- labor regulation or the policing of
work unlocks considerable potential for ana- financial markets do not naturally
lysing the geohistory and contemporary reside at any one scale, but are variously
spatiality of a process like devolution; what institutionalized, defended, attacked,
we might term state spatiality (Brenner upscaled,and down-scaled in the course
2004). For on one level, it offers scope to of political-economic struggles.Corre-
examine the crucial role of nationalist and spondingly, the present scalar location
devolutionary political campaigners – as in of a given regulatory process is neither
the Scottish Constitutional Convention and natural nor inevitable,but instead reflects
the Campaign for a Welsh Assembly – to dis- an outcome of past political conflicts
cursively present their territorially oriented and compromises.
political struggles through a scalar narrative but
also across scales, stretching to London and (Peck 2002: 340; emphasis added)
beyond. Instructive in this regard is Agnew’s
work on Italy, where political parties have Deployed in this way, it may be that the
been central players in “writing the scripts theoretical and methodological principles of
of geographical scale […and where] …The this politics of scalar structuration perspec-
boundaries they draw […] define the tive can uncover the ways in which con-
temporary devolution is characterized by a

261

MARTIN JONES AND GORDON MACLEOD

rescaling of policy and planning responsibili- these acts of dispersal would instil new spatial
ties alongside the formation of new, revived, imaginaries of the nation – multi-nodal as
or strengthened state spaces and the extent to opposed to deeply centralized – enabling
which associated strategies to enact territo- regions to become effective national players
rial development are intricately intertwined while also stretching the cognitive maps of
with the redefinition of state intervention regional actants to embrace external connec-
(Brenner 2004). tivity in fostering economic prosperity and
social and cultural capital. Amin (2004: 37)
A relational approach has since argued that, in contrast to conven-
to the geography of devolution tional mappings where devolution politics is
territorially “grounded in an imaginary of
In recent years, the merits of a territorial or the region as a space of intimacy, shared his-
scalar approach to the understanding of tory or shared identity, and community of
political economic transformations have interest or fate”, this relational spatial gram-
been questioned, largely though not exclu- mar works with the variegated processes of
sively from a coterie of geographers based in spatial stretching and territorial perforation
England who advocate a more radically rela- associated with globalization and a society
tional approach to space (see inter alia Allen characterized by transnational flows and
et al. 1998; Allen and Cochrane 2007; Amin networks.
2002; 2004; Massey 2004; 2005).The critique
has two dimensions. The first is concerned This leads directly on to the second
with normative democratic politics and has dimension of the critique of a scalar or ter-
been most explicitly articulated in a pam- ritorial logic: the possibility of an alternative
phlet entitled Decentering the Nation: A ontology and conceptual orientation towards
Radical Approach to Regional Inequality, where relational processes and network forms of
the authors (Amin et al. 2003) disavow the organization that defy a linear distinction
‘spatial grammar’ that punctuates the debate between place and space (Amin 2002).Amin’s
and the practice of UK devolution. Indeed reasoning for this relates to how:
they proclaim that by following the well-
trodden path of a territorially rooted politi- In this emerging new order, spatial
cal discourse and strategy, New Labour’s configurations and spatial boundaries
devolution – particularly in relation to are no longer necessarily or pur-
England – has done little to disturb the posively territorial or scalar, since the
London-centrism that has characterized the social, economic, political and cultural
business of politics and economics for over inside and outside are constituted
the last 100 years. through the topologies of actor net-
works which are becoming increas-
In order to confront this entrenched ingly dynamic and varied in spatial
hegemony of London, they advocate replac- constitution. […] The resulting excess
ing the territorial politics of devolution with of spatial composition is truly stagger-
a ‘politics of dispersal’. This envisages differ- ing. It includes radiations of telecom-
ent parts of England playing equal roles in munications and transport networks
conducting a more mobile politics, perhaps around (and also under and above) the
involving national institutions like Parliament world, which in some places fail to
travelling from London to the various ‘prov- even link up proximate neighbours.
inces’, although presumably this very process […] It includes well-trodden but not
would lead such regions to no longer be always visible tracks of transnational
peripheralized as such.Amin et al. deem that escape, migration, tourism, business
travel, asylum and organized terror
262

TER R ITOR IAL/R ELATION AL

which dissect through, and lock, estab- scales,“then any attempt to‘fix’them through
lished communities into new circuits policy initiatives will be characterised by
of belonging and attachment, resent- over-simplification and an inability to cap-
ment and fear. […] It includes political ture their dynamism and ever-changing
registers that now far exceed the tradi- character” (Raco 2006: 324).
tional sites of community, town hall,
parliament, state and nation, spilling Governing spatial economies:
over into the machinery of virtual relational, territorial, networked
public spheres, international organiza-
tions,global social movements,diaspora So where do these contrasting approaches
politics, and planetary or cosmopolitan take us? Is it appropriate to view the process
projects. of devolution as a rescaling of state spatiality
and territorial restructuring, or as a topology
(Amin 2004: 33–34) of spatially stretched, variegated flows and
territorially perforating trans-regional net-
Viewed through this ontology of relational works? Or perhaps it might actually be quite
space, cities, regions and nation-states thereby unhelpful to be posing the question in such
come with no automatic promise of territo- stark either/or terms? This would certainly
rial integrity “since they are made through seem to be the view of the distinguished
the spatiality of flow, juxtaposition, porosity, political geographer John Agnew. In the
and relational connectivity” (ibid.: 34). In process of introducing his theoretical ‘map-
turn,Amin cautions against fetishizing places ping’ of politics in modern Italy,Agnew talks
as ‘communities’ that “lend themselves to of an ‘intellectual standoff ’ between those
territorially defined or spatially constrained who perhaps overstate the novelty and impact
political arrangements and choices” (ibid.: 42; of networks and those who may remain
also Closs 2007). Moreover, and without too committed to the enduring significance
wishing to denigrate any calls for building of territorial spheres. For Agnew (2002: 2),
effective regional voice and representation, “[P]art of the problem is the way the debate
he is deeply suspicious of any assumption is posed, as if networks invariably stand in
that there is a defined ‘manageable’ geo- opposition to territories [and, further, as if...]
graphical territory to rule over. networks are seen as a completely new phe-
nomenon without geographical anchors”.
This mode of reasoning certainly offers a
fundamental challenge to perspectives on the In an explicit endeavour to transcend
politics of scalar structuration, whose language this seemingly polarized debate between
of ‘nested scales and territorial boundaries’ is territorial/scalar and non-scalar or topolo-
deemed to omit “much of the topology of gical perspectives, Harriet Bulkeley (2005)
economic circulation and network folding” posits two crucial arguments. The first con-
characteristic of contemporary capitalism cerns the false assumption that approaches to
(Amin 2002: 395). It also places on trial a the politics of scale – or politics of scalar
range of territorially oriented concepts such structuration – somehow offer a naïve view
as community, locality as well as those of of political scales as pre-given, homogeneous
urban, city and region. Moreover, as high- and intact. She then adds that such accounts
lighted by Raco (2006), relational thinking conceptualize the very processes through
provides some alternative avenues for concep- which such scalar constructions emerge with
tualizing the identity spaces and the emerg- an emphasis on the fact that they are not
ing ‘space–place tensions’ of devolution (cf. neatly bound in territorial terms but take
Taylor 1999): not least in that if spatial iden- place through various actor networks and
tities are indeed fostered through a mixture
of flows and connections across different 263

MARTIN JONES AND GORDON MACLEOD

spaces of engagement (Cox 1998; Jones and that of The Northern Way, we encounter a
MacLeod 2004). Bulkeley’s second objection quite explicit endeavour to establish a pan-
to the positioning of scales and networks as regional economic strategy for the North of
polar opposites concerns the extent to which England forged through a multi-nodal arc of
networks – at least in terms of the objects connectivity: a truly networked space. But
which are enrolled in networks and indeed again, this is a networked topology which
their very scope – are themselves scaled. interacts around and through the territorial
It then follows that: geometries of RDA and Government Office
administrative boundaries alongside other
once the concept of scale is freed scales and territories of government.
from notions of contained and con-
tiguous territories, it is clear that ‘Programmed spatiality’:
networks have a scalar dimension, both building and contesting
in terms of the ways in which they the South West Region
operate and the ways in which they
are framed and configured by other The Greater South West (GSW) – later
networks/coalitions of actors. termed the South West Region – was created
by central government during the 1930s
(Bulkeley 2005: 882) following surveys conducted by the Board of
Trade and Ministry of Labour on the UK
To this extent, then, any conceptualization of population and economy. Prior to the era of
the politics of scalar structuration or of rhi- RDAs, the South West had a number of eco-
zomatic or network topologies should rec- nomic development agencies operating at
ognize that “scales evolve relationally within different spatial scales, thereby creating frag-
tangled hierarchies and dispersed interscalar mented partnerships at the standard region
networks” (Brenner 2001: 605); and, moreo- level. Accordingly, the South West RDA
ver, that “geographical scales and networks of (SWRDA) received relatively widespread
spatial connectivity are mutually constitutive support for its potential to help make the
rather than mutually exclusive aspects of region more economically competitive and
social spatiality” (ibid.). more cohesive. However, in some instances
this territorializing institutional arrangement
These claims can be demonstrated in two has spawned numerous tangled hierarchies
brief examples. In the case of the South West and perplexing policy networks which, far
of England, there is powerful evidence of a from rationalizing the landscape of govern-
scalar politics and territorially oriented praxis, ance, have intensified its complexity. Indeed
where official governmental organizations the South West Regional Assembly has iden-
and oppositional political actors identify tified “that the nature of the relationships
contrasting spatial scales – respectively, the between the key players within the region
South West regional boundary and Cornwall and the boundaries between them are at
– around and through which to wage their times, unclear” (SWRA 2002: 15). All of
quite explicitly territorial politics of engage- which has left some organizations anxiously
ment and representation.And yet we can also groping to define a clear sense of orientation
interpret that the everyday performance of and territorial identity.
these political geographies is being con-
ducted through the trans-territorial and spa- The most active resistance against this
tially variegated actor networks of people, devolved territorial fix has been led by
objects such as trains and cars, alongside Mebyon Kernow. Formed in the 1950s,
face-to-face and radiated modes of commu- Mebyon Kernow is a grass-roots regional
nicating information, ideas and technologies
(cf. Mol and Law 1994). In the second case,

264

TER R ITOR IAL/R ELATION AL

movement, modelled on Breton-Welsh-Celtic briefly alluded to above – most contempo-
lines and combining claims for cultural rights rary political endeavours enrol a spatially
with strategies for economic devolution. variegated and trans-scalar topology of actor
Its activists regularly fight general and local networks, the very practice of relational net-
elections with low-level success,but through- working is brought to life in the CCC’s claim
out the 1990s Mebyon Kernow gained cred- that devolution is about “cutting Cornwall
ibility by developing closer alliances with in” to a partnership of the regions of the
the Liberal Democrats, the hegemonic main- British Isles, Europe and the world. And also
stream party in the South West of England. that “strong relationships will need to be
Mebyon Kernow’s own approach to the RDA established and maintained with Cornwall’s
model of regionalization is encapsulated in ‘peer group’ of UK regions and nations.…
Bernard Deacon’s contention that: In addition, relationships will need to be
renewed with regions and nations along the
By refusing to debate regionalism ‘Atlantic Arc’, and new relationships deve-
the UK government is threatening loped in Europe” (CCC 2002: 7). Nonethe-
Cornwall’s institutional integrity. It has less, in highlighting all this there is little
placed Cornwall in an artificial regional denying that, as recognized by Bernard
construct – the South West which is Deacon from the Institute of Cornish Studies
very large and culturally incoherent. at the University of Exeter, the primary
objectives of Senedh Kernow were waged
(Deacon 1999: 3) through a politics of scalar structuration:

This insurgent venture to disturb the While being studiously ignored in the
post-devolution governmentalized territory Government’s 2002White Paper on the
of South West Britain was given a major English regions […], this ‘inconvenient
impetus in 2000 with the formation of a periphery’ provides one of the few
Cornish Constitutional Convention (Senedh explicit examples of a struggle over scale.
Kernow) – a cross-party organization sup-
ported by Cornwall’s four LibDem MPs, (Deacon 2004: 215)
members of political parties, community and
cultural activists – and its campaign for a ‘The Northern Way’: enacting
Cornish Assembly (Deacon et al. 2003). By a multi-nodal networked region
late 2001, over 50,000 people had signed the
petition for a Cornish Assembly and this was Since 1999, and in accordance with govern-
taken to the House of Commons for the atten- ment priorities, each RDA has worked hard
tion of the Minister for Regions. Building to develop effective regional and sub-
on this work, the landmark documents regional partnerships and to foster a robust
Devolution for One and All (CCC 2002) Regional Spatial Strategy (Roberts 2009).
and The Case for Cornwall (CCC 2003) However, in recent years, and especially fol-
offer a multidimensional blueprint – drawing lowing the rejection following a public refer-
connections between territory, identity, poli- endum in 2004 of a directly elected regional
tics and economics – for a fully devolved assembly in the North East of England,
Assembly modelled on the experiences of the government has been encouraging the
Wales and the Isles of Scilly and legitimized creation of alternative types of region. This
by Cornwall’s ‘variable geometry’ (ibid.: 10). includes three new growth areas: the M11
corridor (Cambridge to Stansted), Thames
The political strategy of Senedh Kernow Gateway (East London–North Kent), and
also combines a territorial politics of scale Milton Keynes–South Midlands (Allen and
with a networked choreography of place-
making. For while it is the case that – as 265

MARTIN JONES AND GORDON MACLEOD

Cochrane 2007; Allmendinger and Haughton The period between the fall of 2004 and late
2009). A fourth invented region is The spring 2005 saw the stakeholders in each
Northern Way. Prepared by the three north- city-region prepare City Region Develop-
ern RDAs – One North East, Yorkshire ment Programmes, which provided:
Forward, and Northwest,The Northern Way
was launched in September 2004 and saw: for the first time an overview of the
economic development potential and
The three regions […] unit[ing] in a requirements of the North’s major
common purpose – to develop the full urban economies. They look at the
potential of the North and narrow the flow of markets across administrative
£30 billion economic divide with the boundaries and draw out the conse-
rest of England. quences for the development of policy
and investment in a coherent way
( John Prescott, Foreword within these new geographies.
in NWSG 2005b: 3)
(NWSG 2005b: 9; emphasis added)
The geographical shape of The Northern
Way is particularly interesting given the The vision of The Northern Way Steering
theme of this chapter. For a start, the RDA Group (NWSG) was as unambiguous as it
boundaries magically disappear. And this was ambitious: “nothing less than the trans-
trans-territorial porosity is given deeper formation of the North of England to
inflection with those lines that do actually become an area of exceptional opportunity,
feature: rail and automobile routes and other combining a world-class economy with a
tributaries emphasizing mobility, linkage, superb quality of life” (NWSG 2005b: 6).To
networks. But perhaps the most notable geo- achieve this, the NWSG proposed three
graphical signifier concerns the prominence broad types of action:
given to eight city regions: Liverpool/
Merseyside, Central Lancashire, Manchester, Investments that are pan-Northern
Sheffield, Leeds, Hull and Humber Ports, and add real value by operating
Tees Valley, and Tyne and Wear (Gonzalez across all three regions, such as joint
et al. 2006).These are presented as relational marketing programmes;
assets and the ‘principal spatial focus’ pro-
moting faster economic growth (NWSG Activities which need to be embed-
2004). In substantive terms, the city-regions ded into mainstream programmes in
actually seem to correspond to traditional each region, such as meeting employer
travel to work areas, shopping catchment areas skills needs;
and housing markets. Nonetheless, again the
geographical references of The Northern Potential investments for which fur-
Way discourse appear to be intentionally ther evidence must be developed to
fuzzy and the spatial ontology relational, as demonstrate the long-term benefits
each node is acknowledged to: which will accrue to the North’s
economy, such as major transport
infrastructure.

cover areas extending well beyond the Indeed, of the ten investment priorities that
city centres at their core [and…].They have been identified thus far, three relate
contain a spectrum of towns, villages explicitly to transport, described as improv-
and urban fringe areas, and they have ing ‘the North’s connectivity’. This involves
mutually inter-dependent relationships the preparation of a Northern Airports
with the countryside around them. Priorities Plan designed to ‘improve surface
access’ to key northern airports; improving
(NWSG 2005a)

266

TER R ITOR IAL/R ELATION AL

access to the North’s sea ports; and the of political and policy-related demands: neigh-
creation of a premier transit system in each bourbood, local, regional, trans-regional,
city-region and stronger linkages between trans-national, terrestrial, electronic and so
city-regions. Other significant initiatives on. At the same time, we can begin to iden-
include: three Science Cities (Manchester, tify how relational processes and trans-
York and Newcastle); an integrated techno- regional networked forms of governing are
logy transfer network structure across the being opened up to permit fresh approaches
North; the creation of up to four world- with which different policy actors can com-
class research centres and an enhanced pro- municate and work together more effectively
gramme of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships; not simply within their sector but across
the Northern Enterprise in Education Pro- sectors and across scales (Allmendinger and
gramme (NEEP); a pan-northern Women Haughton 2009). In turn, these emerging
into Enterprise Programme; pan-northern debates are helping us move towards a
projects in chemicals, food and drink and more relational understanding of how policy
advanced engineering; environmental tech- development proceeds.
nologies, financial and professional services
and logistics (NWSG 2005a). City-region Conclusions
plans also placed the emphasis on openness,
porosity and permeability, with Leeds aiming In this chapter we have discussed two alter-
to “improve city regional, pan-regional native approaches to researching the gov-
and international connectivity”, and Hull ernance of local and regional economic
and Humber Ports advertising as “a global development in the UK.The first concerns a
gateway”. All in all: territorial ‘politics of scalar structuration’. In
recent years this has assumed increasing pop-
The Northern Way represents perhaps ularity as an approach with which to capture
the most significant economic devel- the relationships between a purported rescal-
opment collaboration in Europe in the ing of policy and planning responsibilities
current decade. Therefore, it has and the transformation of existing, or indeed
required a new way of working of the the creation of new, state spaces, themselves
three RDAs and their partners in the deeply intertwined with the geographical
regions, local partners in City Regions specificities of state power and state inter-
and Government Departments. vention. In discussing this, we wish to reiter-
ate how the territorialization of political
(NWSG 2005b: 6) life is never fully accomplished, but remains
a precarious and deeply contentious out-
In some regard, though, these audacious come of historically specific state projects.
claims demand some critical interrogation. Consequently, spatial, territorial, and scalar
First, this initiative involved a minute budget: relations are neither pre-given nor naturally
one that is top-sliced from existing RDA necessary ‘bounded’ features of statehood but
funds. Second, the old assertions about trans- are rather deeply processual and practical
regional institutional capacity and network- outcomes of strategic initiatives undertaken
ing need to be measured alongside the by a wide range of social forces. In the
mundane reality of centrally policed and context of the South West of England,
territorially defined targets for mainstream the Cornish – in the various guises of
government programmes. In stating this, Mebyon Kernow and Senedh Kernow – are
however, the proliferation of newer region- particularly keen to denaturalize the con-
alisms such as The Northern Way may actu- temporary territorialization of UK political
ally be indicative of how the UK state is
seeking to respond to the complex diversity 267

MARTIN JONES AND GORDON MACLEOD

life, promoting their brand of nationalist Tomaney 2009). At one level, we consider it
regionalism as a processual and practical both politically naïve and theoretically negli-
route through which to confront the per- gent to ignore the fact that much of the
ceived contradictions of statist technocratic political challenge to devolution prevailing
regionalization. across England and elsewhere is being prac-
tised through an avowedly territorial narra-
The second approach to spatial politics has tive and scalar ontology. However, it would
thus far been presented as a counterweight to equally be quite absurd to deny that these
that of scalar structuration. Deploying this practices and performances are also often
topological approach would envision a radi- enacted through topologically heterogene-
cally relational interpretation on devolution ous trans-regional and cross-border networks
and constitutional change emphasizing the of ‘fluidity’ and circulation (Mol and Law
networked practices and processes of devolu- 1994). In short, then, our bottom line is that
tion, and would make a case that an onto- mobility and fluidity should not be seen as
logical focus on territorial boundaries and standing in opposition to territories.As Anssi
scales does violence to the actor-networked Paasi has remarked:
assembling of such a process.This approach is
particularly powerful as a way of interpreting There is no doubt that networks do
how, in the age of globalizing (post-)neolib- matter, but so do ‘geography’, bounda-
eralism something like economic develop- ries and scales as expressions of social
ment can be conceived as a highly mobile practice, discourse and power. Geo-
and radiated process whose lines of flight graphy, boundaries and scales are not
stretch spatial forms and whose registers spill ‘intuitive fictions’ and their rejection/
over fixed territorial boundaries and disturb- acceptance can hardly be ‘written away’
ing any rational sense of scalar hierarchies, or erased in our offices but have to be
tangled or otherwise.The value of this think- reconceptualized perpetually in order
ing is clearly evident from our brief discus- to understand their material/discursive
sion of The Northern Way. Nonetheless, we meaning in the transforming world.
contend that many everyday realpolitik acts of
spatial politics – as in the case of a central (Paasi 2004: 541–542)
government classifying a region as a ‘prob-
lem’ or local activists campaigning for We, therefore, call for a retaining of territori-
devolved government and cultural rights – ally oriented readings of political economy
often distinguish a pre-existing or aspirant and, when and where appropriate, their con-
spatial scale or territorially articulated space joining with non-territorial or topological
of dependence through which to conduct approaches (Allen et al. 1998; Amin 2002).
their actually-existing politics of engagement And as we have outlined above, the growing
(Cox 1998). Thus, when the various objec- body of work on the politics of scalar struc-
tives and strategic priorities defined in the turation is explicitly relational in its approach
name of The NorthernWay are finally tabled, to territorial form. The ongoing rounds of
there is every likelihood that RDA and city- devolution and constitutional change cer-
regional territorial boundaries and borders tainly offer the context for stretching these
will re-emerge as ‘active progenitors’: with analyses further.
the whole process of ‘who getting what’ type
of investment being waged on territorially For instance, the Wales Spatial Plan, which
demarcated and scalar-defined terms. since 2004 is providing the basis for eco-
nomic development and spatial planning,
We thus remain to be unconvinced that explicitly deploys a relational ‘fuzzy bound-
these two approaches might be compatible ary’ narrative. Six regions, governed through
in research strategies (see also Pike and ‘area groups’ have been created, some of

268

TER R ITOR IAL/R ELATION AL

which are coterminous with local authority Amin, A. (2004) “Regions unbound: towards a
administrative areas, while others cut across new politics of place”, Geografiska Annaler, 86B:
these geographies. Conventional cartogra- 33–44.
phies based on administrative regions thus
exist alongside fluid relational spaces based Amin, A., Massey, D. and Thrift, N. (2003)
on flows of people, goods and services. The Decentering the Nation: A Radical Approach to
Wales Spatial Plan is claimed to enable “part- Regional Inequality, Catalyst, London.
ners to work together on common issues
in a flexible way” (The Wales Spatial Plan Bianconi, M., Gallent, N. and Greatbatch. I. (2006)
2008: Foreword), thus breaking away from “The changing geography of subregional
the “shackles of preexisting working patterns planning in England”,Environment and Planning
which might be variously held to be slow, C: Government and Policy, 24: 317–330.
bureaucratic, or not reflecting the real geo-
graphies of problems and opportunities” Brenner, N. (2001) “The limits to scale?
(Allmendinger and Haughton 2009: 619). Methodological reflections on scalar struc-
The research challenge is to use techniques turation”, Progress in Human Geography, 15:
such as qualitative GIS, so that these ‘soft 525–548.
spaces’ (Allmendinger and Haughton 2009)
of economic development can be mapped Brenner, N. (2004) New State Spaces: Urban
by a variety of quantitative (official/survey) Governance and the Rescaling of Statehood,Oxford
and qualitative (unofficial/stakeholder) data University Press, Oxford.
records ( Jones and MacLeod 2009). Further,
while our chapter is limited to the experi- Brenner, N. (2009) “Open questions on state re-
ence of the UK, we contend that at a time scaling”, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy
when the governance of economic develop- and Society, 2: 123–139.
ment continues to be renegotiated in many
countries across the world, this conceptual Bulkeley, H. (2005) “Reconfiguring environmen-
dialogue has a wider resonance (Everingham tal governance: towards a politics of scales and
et al. 2006; Brenner 2009). networks”, Political Geography, 24: 875–902.

References Closs, Stevens A. (2007) “‘Seven million London-
ers, one London’: national and urban ideas
Agnew, J. (1997) “The dramaturgy of horizons: of community in the aftermath of the 7 July
geographical scale in the ‘reconstruction of 2005 bombings in London”, Alternatives, 32:
Italy’ by the new Italian political parties, 155–176.
1992–1995”, Political Geography, 16 (2): 99–121.
Cornish Constitutional Convention (2002)
Agnew, J. (2002) Place and Politics in Modern Italy, Devolution for One and All: Governance for
University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Cornwall in the 21st Century, Senedh Kernow,
Truro.
Allen, J. and Cochrane,A. (2007) “Beyond the ter-
ritorial fix: regional assemblages, politics and Cornish Constitutional Convention (2003) Your
power”, Regional Studies, 41: 1161–1175. Region, Your Choice: The Case for Cornwall.
Cornwall’s Response to the Government’s
Allen, J., Massey, D. and Cochrane, A. (1998) Devolution White Paper, Senedh Kernow,
Rethinking the Region, Routledge, London. Truro.

Allmendinger, P. and Haughton, P. (2009) Cox, K. (1998) “Spaces of dependence, spaces of
“Soft spaces, fuzzy boundaries, and metagov- engagement and the politics of scale, or:
ernance: the new spatial planning”, Thames looking for local politics”, Political Geography,
Gateway Environment and Planning A, 41: 17: 1–23.
617–633.
Deacon, B. (ed.) (1999) ‘The Cornish and the
Amin, A. (2002) “Spatialities of globalization”, Council of Europe framework for the protec-
Environment and Planning A, 34: 385–399. tion of national minorities’, Joseph Rowntree
Reform Trust,York.

Deacon, B. (2004) “Under construction: culture
and regional formation in south-west
England”, European Urban and Regional Studies,
11: 213–225.

Deacon, B., Cole, D. and Tregidga, G. (2003)
Mebyon Kernow and Cornish Nationalism,Welsh
Academic Press, Cardiff.

Deas, I. and Ward, K. (2000) “From the ‘new local-
ism’ to the ‘new regionalism’?The implications
of regional development agencies for city–
regional relations”, Political Geography, 19:
273–292.

269

MARTIN JONES AND GORDON MACLEOD

Delaney, D. and Leitner, H. (1997) “The political MacLeod, G. and Jones, M. (2007) “Territorial,
construction of scale”, Political Geography, scalar, networked, connected: In what sense
16 (2): 93–97. a ‘regional world’?”, Regional Studies, 41:
1177–1191.
Everingham, J-A., Cheshire, L. and Lawrence, G.
(2006) “Regional renaissance? New forms of Massey, D. (2004) ‘Geographies of responsibility’,
governance in nonmetropolitan”, Australia Geografiska Annaler, Series B, Human Geography,
Environment and Planning C: Government and 86 (1): 5–18.
Policy, 24: 139–155.
Mebyon, K. (1999) “A fresh start for Cornwall: the
Gibbs, D. and Jonas, A. (2001) “Rescaling and Manifesto of Mebyon Kernow”, in The Party
regional governance: the English Regional for Cornwall, Mebyon Kernow, Cornwall.
Development Agencies and the environment”,
Environment and Planning C: Government and Mol,A. and Law, J. (1994) “Regions, networks and
Policy, 19 (2): 269–280. fluids: anaemia and social topology”, Social
Studies of Science, 24: 641–671.
Giddens, A. (1984) The Constitution of Society,
Polity Press, Cambridge. Nash, F. (2002) “Devolution dominoes”, TheTimes
Higher, 1 February, p. 30.
Gonzalez, S., Ward, N. and Tomaney, J. (2006)
“Faith in the city-region”, Town and Country NWSG (2004) Moving Forward:The Northern Way,
Planning, November: 315–317. Northern Way Steering Group.

Goodwin, M., Jones, M. and Jones, R. (2005) NWSG (2005a) Moving Forward: The Northern
“Devolution, constitutional change and eco- Way: Action Plan – Progress Report Summary,
nomic development: explaining and under- Northern Way Steering Group.
standing the new institutional geographies
of the British state”, Regional Studies, 39: NWSG (2005b) Moving Forward: The Northern
421–436. Way: Business Plan 2005–2008, Northern
Way Steering Group.
Haughton, G. and Counsell, D. (2004) Regions,
Spatial Strategies and Sustainable Development, Paasi,A.(1986)“The institutionalization of regions:
Routledge, London. a theoretical framework for understanding the
emergence of regions and the constitution of
Howitt, R. (2003) “Scale”, in J. Agnew, regional identity”, Fennia, 16: 105–146.
K. Mitchell and G. Toal (eds) A Companion to
Political Geography, pp. 138-157, Blackwell, Paasi, A. (2004) “Place and region: looking
Oxford. through the prism of scale”, Progress in Human
Geography, 28: 536–546.
Jessop, B. (2002) The Future of the Capitalist State,
Polity, London. Peck, J. (2002) “Political economies of scale: fast
policy, interscalar relations, and neoliberal
Jones, K. (1998) “Scale as epistemology”, Political workfare”, Economic Geography, 78: 331–360.
Geography, 17: 25–28.
Pike, A. and Tomaney, J. (2009) “The state and
Jones, M. and MacLeod, G. (1999) “Towards a uneven development: the governance of eco-
regional renaissance? Reconfiguring and nomic development in England in the post-
rescaling England’s economic governance”, devolution UK”, Cambridge Journal of Regions,
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Economy and Society, 2: 13–34.
24: 295–313.
Raco, M. (2006) “Building new subjectivities:
Jones, M. and MacLeod, G. (2004) “Regional devolution, regional identities and the re-
spaces, spaces of regionalism: territory, insur- scaling of politics’, in M. Tewdwr-Jones
gent politics, and the English question”, Tran- and P. Allmedinger (eds) Territory, Identity and
sactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 29. Spatial Planning, Routledge, London.

Jones, M. and MacLeod, G. (2009) Conceptualising Regional Studies (2002) Special Issue: Devolution
the Geography of UK Devolution, Presented Paper, and the English Question, edited by C. Jeffery
Royal Geographical Society/Institute of and J. Mawson, 36 (7).
British Geographers Annual Conference,
Manchester, September. Regional Studies (2005) Special Issue: Devolution
and Economic Governance, edited by M. Jones,
Jones, M., Jones, R. and Goodwin, M. (2005) M. Goodwin and R. Jones, 39 (4).
“State modernization, devolution, and eco-
nomic governance: an introduction and guide Roberts, P. (2009) “Regional development and
to debate”, Regional Studies, 39: 397–403. regional spatial strategies in England”, in
J. Bradbury (ed.) Devolution, Regionalism and
MacLeod, G. and Goodwin, M. (1999) Regional Development: The UK Experience,
“Reconstructing an urban and regional politi- Routledge, London.
cal economy: on the state, politics, scale, and
explanation”, Political Geography, 18: 697–730. Sandford, M. (2002) “The Cornish question:
devolution in the South-West Region”, Report
for the South West Constitutional Convention and

270

TER R ITOR IAL/R ELATION AL

the Cornish Constitutional Convention, Con- Spatial Governance in a Fragmented Nation,
stitution Unit, London. Routledge, London.
Shaw, J., MacKinnon, D. and Docherty, I. (2009) The Wales Spatial Plan (2008) People, Place, Futures:
“Divergence or convergence? Devolution and The Wales Spatial Plan Update 2008, Welsh
transport policy in the United Kingdom”, Assembly Government, Cardiff.
Environment and Planning C: Government and
Policy, 27: 546–567. Further reading
Smith, N. (2003) “Remaking scale: competition
and cooperation in prenational and postna- Amin, A. (2004) “Regions unbound: towards a
tional Europe”, in B. Brenner, B. Jessop, new politics of place”, Geografiska Annaler,
M. Jones and G. MacLeod (eds) State-Space: 86B: 33–44.
A Reader, Blackwell, Oxford.
Smith, R. (2003) “World city actor-networks”, Brenner, N. (2004) New State Spaces: Urban
Progress in Human Geography, 27: 25–44. Governance and the Rescaling of Statehood,Oxford
SWRA (2002) “Who owns the skills & learning University Press: Oxford.
agenda?”, South West Regional Assembly Select
Committee on Skills & Learning, South West Pike, A. and Tomaney, J. (2009) “The state and
Regional Assembly, Exeter. uneven development: the governance of eco-
Swyngedouw, E. (1997) “Neither global nor nomic development in England in the post-
local: ‘glocalization’ and the politics of scale”, devolution UK”, Cambridge Journal of Regions,
in K. Cox (ed.) Spaces of Globalization, Economy and Society, 2: 13–34.
pp. 137–166, Guilford Press, New York.
Taylor, P. (1999) “Place, space and Macy’s: place- Regional Studies 41 (9) “Whither Regional
space tensions in the political geography of Studies” contains several papers engaging
modernities”, Progress in Human Geography, 23: with the implications of territorial and rela-
7–26. tional perspectives for the study of local and
Tewdwr-Jones, M. and Allmendinger, P. (eds) regional development (especially those by
2006) Territory, Identity and Spatial Planning: Allen and Cochrane, MacLeod and Jones,
Morgan).

271

23

Institutional geographies and local
economic development

Policies and politics

Kevin R. Cox

Introduction internal relation between organizations and
rules:they are mutually entailing.Organization
Discussion of institutions and their signifi- entails rules since unless agents within organ-
cance is nothing new in the literature on izations know what they are supposed to
local economic development. Governance, do – in other words, what the rules are –
particularly urban governance, has been a then there can be no organization and hence
central focus for some time now, and the ear- no cooperation towards some shared end;
lier idea of urban regimes still resonates. only incoherence. Likewise, rules only make
More recently still the way in which institu- sense as ways of regulating social life.This in
tional change has affected the changing form turn has been characterized by institutional
of local and regional development policy and differentiation, but ‘institutions’ here in the
subsequent politics has been a central organ- sense of organization. Organization and rules,
izing theme. This has been particularly so however, if they are to be understood in
given the significance accorded to fordism terms that make sense for our current pur-
and its successors, including neo-liberalism. pose, require some situating with respect to
ideas of social process more generally. In this
Quite aside from these literatures and their particular treatment I give pride of place to
particular foci, to talk about institutions and the capital accumulation process.This will be
local economic development can cover a followed by an examination of three particu-
huge range of relationships. I am assuming lar areas of critical interest in the literature.
for a start that in referring to institutions we These include a still quite pervasive localism;
are following Douglass North (1992) who over-simplified binaries of long-term change;
defined them as ‘rules that shape interaction’. and the central role of the state. I will say more
Emphatically this is not to omit reference to about these at the end of the next section.
the other dominant sense of the term.This is
institutions as organizations or modes of The centrality of the
cooperation: the state, the firm, the family, accumulation process
the economy, and so on. On close inspection
the notion of organization complements that In anything to do with local economic devel-
of rules, so that both definitions of ‘institu- opment, I assume the accumulation process
tion’ grasp something of significance to our
purpose here. There is, I would suggest, an

272

INSTITUTIONAL GEOGRAPHIES AND LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

to be central. I conceive it not just in terms are entailed by the accumulation process.
of its surface form of continual expansion of This particular antagonism has in turn been
values through the investment rather than fundamental to the idea of local economic
consumption of the surplus along with the development: a process through which accu-
values originally laid out, but as a class rela- mulation can be promoted in particular
tion. This is its necessary condition and it localities, and positions in wider geographic
then reproduces that class relation; the work- divisions of labour defended.
ers’ share of the product consists of no more
than what is necessary to reproduce them as The result is what can be called an institu-
workers while capital’s possession of the tional geography.To some degree this can be
means of production is both confirmed and captured by various organizational forms.
deepened. This process of reproduction is Firms have spatial divisions of labour which
itself mediated by struggle; workers press for require internal regulation. The possibilities
a larger share of the product while capitalists here are myriad, as are the tensions and
repel their claims by repeated economies in the possibilities of transformation. Particular
the use of labour power and so a continual positions in the spatial division of labour may
reproduction of the industrial reserve army, be independently owned rather than charac-
which in turn keeps wages at a level consist- terized by vertical or horizontal integration.
ent with the appropriation of surplus value. As a result branches may not be owned out-
Accumulation is a class relation, therefore, right. This means in turn that coordination
both in its origins and in its reproduction. has to occur through subcontracting rela-
tions and relations of trust, though it is not
If accumulation is to take place, then unknown for a lead firm to insert its own
certain institutional conditions have to be teams of ‘advisers’ to ensure product quality.
assured. Commodity exchange, whether that To the extent that difficulties remain, a take-
between the employer and the worker or over may be envisaged so as to subordinate
between one firm and another is not unprob- suppliers to the rule of administrative fiat.
lematic. The state becomes of major impor- To the degree that this alters the relation
tance, regulating these relations in various between production facilities and particular
ways.There is the problem of what has been localities – heightening the chance of a plant
antiseptically referred to as ‘firm governance’. closure, dedicating a plant’s product for one
Likewise, like all organizations, those of the particular customer, altering stakes in local
working class require rules.The class relation conditions of production – this is not incon-
is regulated in various ways.And so on. sequential for local economic development
and its politics.
This relation is complicated, however, by
the fact that accumulation necessarily occurs Agents also enter into what might be
over space.This means in turn that organiza- called scalar divisions of labour.An example is
tion has to coordinate and regulate agents in what Andrew Wood (1997; 1993) and I have
different places with all the additional diffi- called the local economic development net-
culties of divergent interests, possibilities of work. It is through this particular form of
concealment and dissimulation, for example, organization that inward investment gets
that separation entails, and at whatever geo- orchestrated and realized. In the US the net-
graphic scale this organization takes place. work comprises the gas and electric utilities
The necessarily antagonistic nature of the operating at regional scales alongside the
accumulation process heightens these effects. Chambers of Commerce and local govern-
As Harvey (1985a) has emphasized in his ments in the different localities of which the
idea of ‘the geopolitics of capitalism’ this region is comprised. In virtue of their com-
antagonism assumes the form of tensions mand of site information, the utilities per-
between fixity and mobility, both of which form a gatekeeping role. Firms prospecting

273

KEVIN R. COX

for sites necessarily go through their offices of labour with respect to local economic
and the utilities then orchestrate the subse- development. The initial, spatial Keynesian
quent site-search process within respective phase in post-war Western Europe involved a
service areas.This requires the cooperation of dispersion of economic activity away from
both local Chambers of Commerce and local major metropolitan centres towards areas of
governments. The former provide informa- relatively high unemployment. The creation
tion, particularly with respect to local labour of new towns facilitated these ends, as did
conditions. The role of local government is public ownership of key industries. These
the provision of the necessary permits and processes were tightly coordinated from the
infrastructural extensions. Both are essential centre with limited discretion accorded the
if a site decision is to be firmed up.The utili- localities. Subsequently this has shifted to
ties delegate considerable power in this pro- a form in which significant power is decen-
cess and a good deal can go wrong. To a tralized to the localities and the regions.
substantial degree it is mediated by relations
of trust, but to the extent that trust breaks Urban regime theory is also notable for its
down, refusal to bring prospecting firms spatializing limitations. Again, though, this
to particular localities typically brings the does not have to be the case. Urban regimes
uncooperating to heel; underlining the fact bring together local government and busi-
that rules are always backed up by sanctions. ness in ways aimed at enhancing local eco-
A similar process occurs in the United nomic development. Some of this is of
Kingdom with the counties performing the genuinely global significance. Regardless of
same functions as the utilities (Cox and their commitments to particular parts of a
Townsend 2005). This also underlines both city, all developers can support policies aimed
the way in which the state’s own scalar divi- at enhancing its growth as a whole. But as
sion of labour is an essential ingredient in Molotch (1976) pointed out many years ago,
local economic development and the ten- they also have interests in particular neigh-
sions that it generates. bourhoods and hence in the overall pattern
that that growth will assume. This can be a
This very brief survey of the organiza- major source of tension within urban regimes,
tional forms relevant to local economic compromising their effectiveness and calling
development might seem to exclude some of for careful attention to governance arrange-
the characteristic ways in which people have ments if those tensions are to be held at bay,
thought about this relationship. The atten- as Hoxworth and Clayton-Thomas (1993)
tion given in the literature to both regulation have indicated.
theory and urban regime theory has been of
major proportions. Both of these appear So in thinking about the geography of
more global in form, and less spatially differ- institutions, as they relate to local economic
entiated than the forms identified above. development, one might imagine it as a
While this might in fact be the way in which patchwork of institutional fixes, like the local
they have been drawn on, it does not have to economic development network or an urban
be so. Closer inspection suggests that both of regime, each of which is internally differen-
these cases can be thought fruitfully in the tiated spatially, but which can be regarded
terms I have identified above. Neil Brenner’s more globally as well. As with the urban
(2004) account of the organizational rela- regime case, and given the regional character
tions underpinning what he has called of the local economic development network,
‘spatial Keynesianism’ and then their subse- each of the localities making it up can have
quent transformation is an excellent exam- some secondary interest in seeing investment
ple. Although he does not express it in these attracted elsewhere in the region. Allowing
terms, what he describes is a scalar division for these scalar considerations, local eco-
nomic development is not a zero-sum game,
274

INSTITUTIONAL GEOGRAPHIES AND LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

though that sense of something more global unwarranted localism in the literature; this is
as significant to particular localities is clearly the claim that those working on questions of
subject to discursive arbitration. And each urban governance have tended to focus on
of these institutional fixes, of course, should the urban rather than those wider arenas
be thought of in terms of mitigating the with their own interplays of forces and insti-
contradiction between fixity and mobility tutional frames that are thoroughly relevant
at the heart of the geopolitics of capitalism for what transpires in urban areas.
and therefore of the politics of local and
regional development. It is also, and emphat- Second, there is the whole vexed question
ically, an institutional historical-geography. of how to understand institutional change
In other words, institutional fixes, regardless as it relates to local economic development
of geographical scale, change over time and policy and politics. There has been a ten-
over space. Inevitably this process of change dency in the literature to think of this in
is conditioned by tensions in the accumula- quite discontinuous ways. The historical
tion process and the changes are invariably geography of institutions is broken up into
contested. discrete, institutionally coherent periods:
fordism, post-fordism, neo-liberalism, mana-
In talking in this way about ‘local eco- gerialism, etc. I want to urge greater circum-
nomic development’ I am aware that it has spection: a greater sensitivity, therefore, to
become a very contested term. There were the elements of continuity as well as well
always differences and they remain. In the as to sharper changes in the institutions
US it is much more about enhancing local that underpin local economic development.
tax bases and the flow of value through the Again, I will return to the logics of the
social relations of a locality, particularly sales accumulation process in order to press this
and rents, while in Western Europe employ- point.
ment has been a primary concern. But
ultimately development, regardless of the Finally, there is the issue of the state. A
‘local economic’ that precedes it and which take-off point here are the quite profound
obfuscates, is about the development of differences in the ways in which the practices
people.It is this prospective view that encour- of local economic development and the pol-
ages interest in ideas of sustainability, demo- itics surrounding them have unfolded in the
cracy as intrinsic aspects of the concept (Pike US as compared with Western Europe. One
et al. 2007).The accumulation process, how- could argue that this has to do with differing
ever, except in very favourable circumstances patterns of local dependence (Cox and Mair
of the super-profits stemming from some 1988); that there is nothing in Western
quasi-monopoly, is unlikely to give much Europe that corresponds to the cluster of
leeway to these alternative definitions. As utilities, banks, developers, even private uni-
Marx observed, under capital development versities and hospitals and the local media
necessarily has a very one-sided meaning. empires that provide the core of American
growth coalitions. I am going to suggest here
With this as background, in the remainder though that much of the difference resides in
of this chapter I want to explore certain institutional variation and in particular, in
issues arising from a reading of the literature territorial organizations of the state that are
on institutions and local economic develop- very different indeed.
ment. Some of these issues have been widely
recognized while in other instances that is Localism
less the case. The topical areas that I have
chosen are threefold, though they necessarily What some, including Ward (1996), Harding
overlap with one another. In the next (1999) and Jessop et al. (1999) have called
section of the chapter I examine claims of an
275

KEVIN R. COX

localism is a major feature of the literature on Cochrane (2007) have called assemblages,
institutions and local economic develop- and regardless of the ideas of territorial hier-
ment. This refers to the singular focus on archy that so frequently accompany work that
institutions in particular local contexts, a draws on the idea of the politics of scale.
focus that has worked to the detriment of an
institutional geography at wider geographi- It might seem an obvious point that rules
cal scales. In part this focus is a response defined at higher levels of the state are an
to the interest in globalization and how essential datum point for local economic
localities might cope with its challenges.The development practice. There is, nevertheless,
subsequent interest has been in how new a tendency to take them for granted, as in
institutions of urban or local governance the work on urban governance. Sayer and
might be devised so as to facilitate territorial Walker (1992) have made the same point in a
competition in wider arenas.In brief,through critical discussion of firm governance and
improved institutions fostering the integra- rules designed to reduce transaction costs:
tion of divisions of labour within urban areas, “these (transaction costs) are no more than a
and enhancing the coordination of one local residual after the greatest dangers of exchange
government with another and with local have been dampened by the heavy hand of
business, the foundations for growth can be the state, as embodied in various laws of con-
maintained or rebuilt. New investment and a tract, tort, liability and regulation, and by
new, or at least fortified, economic base will customary sanctions regulating tolerable
be the result. behavior and mutual responsibility” (p.117).
When consideration is given to institutions
Much of this work has drawn inspiration like zoning, subdivision regulations, state
from urban regime theory (URT). However, limits on the bonded debt of local govern-
it should be noted that URT was also part of ments, or the rules that were embodied
a critique of earlier work in studies of the in the federal urban renewal legislation of
politics of local economic development. It 1949, this caveat clearly applies not just to
positioned itself not so much with respect to the case of firm governance but to urban
the practical challenges of the period as with governance as well.
certain research tendencies. In contrast to the
more global,structural and economic empha- In the US, those with strong interests in
ses of the growth coalition literature urban what they would define as local economic
regime theory located these as terms in bina- development have often been at the centre of
ries and itself as focusing on the missing attempts to create new institutions at broader
terms. So instead of privileging the eco- geographic scales. Marc Weiss (1987) has
nomic, the structural and the more global, described how community builders with
the URT emphasis would be on the political, strong stakes in particular metropolitan hous-
agency and the more local. ing markets played a key role, through
their national lobbying groups, in obtaining
There might seem to be two approaches national legislation that would, in effect,
to mitigating this. One would be to pay strengthen local zoning provisions. This was
greater attention to the politics of scale and through tacking onto the FHA mortgage
how, for example, local growth interests make insurance legislation of the 1930s a provision
use of wider institutional contexts and occa- that made insurance dependent in part on
sionally intervene in order to transform them: more stringent zoning on the part of muni-
in other words, activities aimed at improving cipalities.Weiss (1980) has written in a simi-
urban governance don’t stop at the city or lar ‘politics of scale’ vein about the origins of
metropolitan boundary. The other approach urban renewal legislation in the US.
would be more lateral in character, fore-
grounding the creation of what Allen and The politics of scale, moreover, has worked
in both directions: not just bottom-up in
276

INSTITUTIONAL GEOGRAPHIES AND LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

order to secure some institutional fix for and their politics have been periodizations
local growth interests, but also top-down so of institutions. The influence of regulation
as to further the accumulation interests of theory has been quite extraordinary. Within
firms less tied to specific localities. As Jon the last fifteen years or so it has been hard to
Teaford (1984: 200) has described, fire insur- read the literature without it being situated
ance companies were hugely important in in some way, and rarely critically, with respect
persuading local governments to adopt more to the categories of ‘fordism’, ‘post-fordism’,
stringent building codes and water pressure and more recently ‘neo-liberalism’.There are
standards, and to professionalize local fire other examples. Mollenkopf ’s (1983) indus-
departments. The more contemporary role trial city/post-industrial city is one. Harvey’s
of property insurance companies in redlining (1989) distinction between the managerial
also comes to mind here. and entrepreneurial city has been remarkably
influential.The same goes for the idea of glo-
The second way in which one might balization and how it is supposed to exist in
mitigate the localistic bias of the literature contrast to something, typically undefined,
on institutions and local economic develop- that preceded it. Sometimes this has merged
ment is through the idea of assemblages. with other binaries.The idea of glocalization
In applying the idea to local economic devel- (Swyngedouw 1997) exists in self-conscious
opment, Allen and Cochrane’s (2007) focus contrast to the more state-centric arrange-
was on how regions get constructed but ments characteristic of fordism.
their essential point from our perspective is
their emphasis on the extra-regional in In contrast, and along with Brenner and
putting together some coalition of forces Glick’s incisive critique of regulation theory,
with stakes in a particular geographical area. I want to suggest that institutional change has
The sorts of understandings central to Stone’s been much, more continual and gradual than
(1989) idea of urban regimes, therefore, and this seeming orthodoxy would suggest. Many
which facilitate cooperation around some of the crucial institutional changes are ones
local economic development project or that, significantly, tend to get downplayed in
agenda can extend beyond the city to incor- the local economic development literature,
porate other agents operating elsewhere at perhaps because they do not slot neatly into
scales that might be similar but might not be these binary approaches. A history of zoning
as well: regional agencies, certainly, but also would be an informative example; likewise
bond rating agencies, consultants, and other the institutional changes governing home-
local governments. Their work also under- ownership. There are still other organiza-
lines the value of more relational understand- tional changes that laid down the conditions
ings of institutional fixes. for the politics of local economic develop-
ment as we have come to know it but which
The question of historical again would be very hard to squeeze into
geography some framework defined by periods. The
competition for branch plants which has
Institutions have a historical geography. been such a defining feature of the contem-
They vary over both space and time. No work porary politics (and policies) of local eco-
on the institutions–local economic develop- nomic development is inconceivable outside
ment nexus can avoid some assumptions of, in the first place, the gradual – emphasize
about these variations. In numerous instances, ‘gradual’ – development of the multi-
though, they should be in question. For locational firm and the creation of branch
example, central to understandings of change plants to attract in in the first place; and
in policies of local economic development second, the, again gradual, emergence of new
branches of production less dependent on

277