IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v41y2023i3p504-522.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

City regions and decent work: Politics, pluralism and policy making in Greater Manchester

Author

Listed:
  • Mathew Johnson
  • Miguel Martínez Lucio
  • Stephen Mustchin
  • Damian Grimshaw
  • Jo Cartwright
  • Jenny K. Rodriguez
  • Tony Dundon

Abstract

Despite a growing body of literature examining the politics of city-regionalism, the question of how local actors engage with, and challenge each other in the subnational regulatory space requires greater attention if we are to develop a more comprehensive understanding of supposedly pluralist approaches to policy making. This paper critically evaluates policy innovations in Greater Manchester (GM) that seek to steer the behaviour of economic actors towards a mutually reinforcing model of decent work and social inclusion. We argue that underneath the expansive political agenda of the GM metro mayor, what has emerged so far is a relatively shallow form of consensus-based neo-pluralism that allows for elite consultation over issues of inclusive growth and responsible business rather than more radically redistributive or participatory policies. The implications for our understanding of the changing and often contradictory role of the state in shaping subnational regulation and governance are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Mathew Johnson & Miguel Martínez Lucio & Stephen Mustchin & Damian Grimshaw & Jo Cartwright & Jenny K. Rodriguez & Tony Dundon, 2023. "City regions and decent work: Politics, pluralism and policy making in Greater Manchester," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 41(3), pages 504-522, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:41:y:2023:i:3:p:504-522
    DOI: 10.1177/23996544221141844
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23996544221141844
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/23996544221141844?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ron Martin, 2021. "Putting the case for a pluralistic economic geography," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(1), pages 1-28.
    2. Emil Evenhuis & Neil Lee & Ron Martin & Peter Tyler, 2021. "Rethinking the political economy of place: challenges of productivity and inclusion," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 14(1), pages 3-24.
    3. Scott, Allen J. (ed.), 2001. "Global City-Regions: Trends, Theory, Policy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198297994.
    4. Mathew Johnson & Jill Rubery & Matthew Egan, 2021. "Raising the bar? The impact of the UNISON ethical care campaign in UK domiciliary care," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(3), pages 367-382, August.
    5. Iain Deas & Graham Haughton & Kevin Ward, 2021. "Scalar postpolitics, inclusive growth and inclusive economies: challenging the Greater Manchester agglomeration model," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 14(1), pages 179-195.
    6. Graham Haughton & Iain Deas & Stephen Hincks & Kevin Ward, 2016. "Mythic Manchester: Devo Manc, the Northern Powerhouse and rebalancing the English economy," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 9(2), pages 355-370.
    7. Damian Grimshaw & Jill Rubery, 2012. "The end of the UK's liberal collectivist social model? The implications of the coalition government's policy during the austerity crisis," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 36(1), pages 105-126.
    8. Jane Roberts, 2020. "The leadership of place and people in the new English combined authorities," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(6), pages 995-1014, November.
    9. Stephen Quilley, 2000. "Manchester First: From Municipal Socialism to the Entrepreneurial City," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 601-615, September.
    10. Paul Sissons & Anne E. Green & Kevin Broughton, 2019. "Inclusive growth in English cities: mainstreamed or sidelined?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(3), pages 435-446, March.
    11. David Waite & Gillian Bristow, 2019. "Spaces of city-regionalism: Conceptualising pluralism in policymaking," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 37(4), pages 689-706, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Henry Wai-chung, 2023. "From Regional to Global and Back Again? A Future Agenda for Regional Evolution and (De)Globalized Production Networks in Regional Studies," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2312, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised May 2023.
    2. Lee, Neil, 2023. "Inclusive innovation in cities: from buzzword to policy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117818, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Mace, Alan & Holman, Nancy & Paccoud, Antoine & Sundaresan, Jayaraj, 2015. "Coordinating density; working through conviction, suspicion and pragmatism," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 56768, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Stephen Mustchin & Mathew Johnson & Marti Lopez‐Andreu, 2023. "Civil society organisations in and against the state: Advice, advocacy and activism on the margins of the labour market," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 117-131, March.
    5. Jennifer Robinson, 2011. "Cities in a World of Cities: The Comparative Gesture," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 1-23, January.
    6. Bo Liu & Desheng Xue & Yiming Tan, 2019. "Deciphering the Manufacturing Production Space in Global City-Regions of Developing Countries—a Case of Pearl River Delta, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-26, December.
    7. John Parr, 2015. "The city and the region as contrasts in spatial organization," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 54(3), pages 797-817, May.
    8. HaeRan Shin & Quentin Stevens, 2013. "How Culture and Economy Meet in South Korea: The Politics of Cultural Economy in Culture-led Urban Regeneration," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5), pages 1707-1723, September.
    9. Anthony Goerzen & Michael Sartor & Kristin Brandl & Stacey Fitzsimmons, 2023. "Widening the lens: Multilevel drivers of firm corporate social performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(1), pages 42-60, February.
    10. Vicente Romero de à vila Serrano, 2019. "The Intrametropolitan Geography of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS): A Comparative Analysis of Six European and U.S. City-Regions," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 33(4), pages 279-295, November.
    11. Robert R. Hewitt, 2014. "Globalization and Landscape Architecture," SAGE Open, , vol. 4(1), pages 21582440135, February.
    12. René Véron, 2010. "Small Cities, Neoliberal Governance and Sustainable Development in the Global South: A Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(9), pages 1-16, September.
    13. Michael Storper & Anthony J. Venables, 2004. "Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 351-370, August.
    14. Michał Myck & Mateusz Najsztub, 2020. "Implications of the Polish 1999 administrative reform for regional socio‐economic development," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 559-579, October.
    15. Samira Oukarfi & Maurice Baslé, 2009. "Public-sector financial incentives for business relocation and effectiveness measures based on company profile and geographic zone," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 43(2), pages 509-526, June.
    16. Ludovic Halbert, 2008. "Examining the Mega-City-Region Hypothesis: Evidence from the Paris City-Region/Bassin parisien," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(8), pages 1147-1160.
    17. Walter J. Nicholls, 2011. "The Los Angeles School: Difference, Politics, City," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 189-206, January.
    18. H.S. Geyer & H.S. Geyer & D. Du Plessis, 2015. "Primary Cities in Sub-Saharan Africa: Quasars, Loose Connections, and Black Holes," International Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1-2), pages 39-51, May.
    19. Delgado, Mercedes & Porter, Michael E. & Stern, Scott, 2014. "Clusters, convergence, and economic performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(10), pages 1785-1799.
    20. Fulong Wu, 2020. "Adding new narratives to the urban imagination: An introduction to ‘New directions of urban studies in China’," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(3), pages 459-472, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:41:y:2023:i:3:p:504-522. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.