IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/loceco/v28y2013i3p257-274.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

New directions in economic development: Localist policy discourses and the Localism Act

Author

Listed:
  • Gill Bentley
  • Lee Pugalis

Abstract

Since entering office in 2010, a distinct grammar of localism has pervaded the UK Coalition Government’s philosophical outlook inflecting localist policy discourses and practice. This article, written in June 2012, considers the implications of this new grammar for the scope, organisation and mobilisation of economic development interventions, through a focus on the 2011 Localism Act , which applies to England and Wales. Interpreting these changes through a localist conceptual prism, which helps to refract varieties of localism, it raises some serious concerns regarding localism in action through exposing the controlling tendencies of central government. Analysis is also directed towards the uneasy relationship between centralised powers, conditional decentralisation and fragmented localism. Nevertheless, emergent practice serves to demonstrate how ‘constrained freedoms’ can be negotiated to undertake innovative actions. It concludes by suggesting some foundational elements that would support the notion of ‘empowered localities’ that may secure the government’s imperative to enable private sector-led growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Gill Bentley & Lee Pugalis, 2013. "New directions in economic development: Localist policy discourses and the Localism Act," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 28(3), pages 257-274, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:28:y:2013:i:3:p:257-274
    DOI: 10.1177/0269094212473940
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269094212473940
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0269094212473940?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. Graham Haughton & Phil Mcmanus, 2012. "Neoliberal Experiments with Urban Infrastructure: The Cross City Tunnel, Sydney," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 90-105, January.
    2. Kevin Morgan, 2007. "The Polycentric State: New Spaces of Empowerment and Engagement?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(9), pages 1237-1251.
    3. Andreas P Kyriacou & Oriol Roca-Sagalés, 2012. "The Impact of EU Structural Funds on Regional Disparities within Member States," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 30(2), pages 267-281, April.
    4. Tony Travers, 2002. "Decentralization London-style: The GLA and London Governance," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(7), pages 779-788.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. DUKE Ben, 2014. "‘Small is Beautiful’, Analysing the Democratising Effect of Localism, Greater Regional Autonomy, Decentralisation and Constitutional Reform," European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Bucharest Economic Academy, issue 02, June.
    2. Calvin Jones & Dylan Henderson, 2019. "Broadband and uneven spatial development: The case of Cardiff City-Region," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 34(3), pages 228-247, May.
    3. Uyarra, Elvira & Shapira, Philip & Harding, Alan, 2016. "Low carbon innovation and enterprise growth in the UK: Challenges of a place-blind policy mix," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 264-272.
    4. Lee Pugalis & Alan R. Townsend, 2014. "The emergence of ‘new’ spatial coalitions in the pursuit of functional regions of governance," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 49-67, March.
    5. Neil Lee, 2017. "Powerhouse of cards? Understanding the ‘Northern Powerhouse’," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 478-489, March.
    6. Mabel Sánchez Barrioluengo & Elvira Uyarra & Fumi Kitagawa, 2016. "The Evolution Of Triple Helix Dynamics: The Case Of English Higher Education Institutions," Working Papers 32, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised Jul 2016.
    7. Elias Giannakis & Adriana Bruggeman, 2017. "Economic crisis and regional resilience: Evidence from Greece," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 96(3), pages 451-476, August.

    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. Cameron White, 2016. "The conditions of practical action: Neoliberalism and sustainability in the Australian road construction industry," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(8), pages 1501-1515, December.
    2. Pike, Andy & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Torrisi, Gianpiero & Tselios, Vassilis & Tomaney, John, 2010. "In search of the ‘economic dividend’ of devolution: spatial disparities, spatial economic policy and decentralisation in the UK," DEMQ Working Paper Series 2010/9, University of Catania, Department of Economics and Quantitative Methods.
    3. Simon Batterbury, 2003. "Environmental Activism and Social Networks: Campaigning for Bicycles and Alternative Transport in West London," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 590(1), pages 150-169, November.
    4. Mazzeo Rinaldi, Francesco, 2016. "From local development policies to strategic planning—Assessing continuity in institutional coalitions," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 76-87.
    5. Andreas P. Kyriacou & Leonel Muinelo-Gallo & Oriol Roca-Sagalés, 2018. "The efficiency of transport infrastructure investment and the role of institutions: an empirical analysis," Working Papers. Collection B: Regional and sectoral economics 1802, Universidade de Vigo, GEN - Governance and Economics research Network.
    6. Elzbieta Ociepa-Kicinska & Rafal Czyzycki & Piotr Szklarz & Rafal Kloska, 2021. "Impact of EU Funds on the Level of Regional Socio-Economic Development: The Case of Poland," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2B), pages 328-362.
    7. Gordon Macleod & Martin Jones, 2007. "Territorial, Scalar, Networked, Connected: In What Sense a 'Regional World'?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(9), pages 1177-1191.
    8. Kyriacou, Andreas P. & Muinelo-Gallo, Leonel & Roca-Sagalés, Oriol, 2019. "The efficiency of transport infrastructure investment and the role of government quality: An empirical analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 93-102.
    9. Mindaugas Butkus & Alma Maciulyte-Sniukiene & Kristina Matuzeviciute, 2020. "Heterogeneous growth outcomes of the EU’s regional financial support mediated by institutions with some empirical evidences at NUTS 3 level," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 40(1), pages 33-66, April.
    10. Miranda Sarmento, J. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2014. "Public-Private Partnerships : Risk Allocation and Value for Money," Discussion Paper 2014-017, Tilburg University, Tilburg Law and Economic Center.
    11. David Bissell & Gillian Fuller, 2017. "Material politics of images: Visualising future transport infrastructures," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(11), pages 2477-2496, November.
    12. Andreas P. Kyriacou & Leonel Muinelo-Gallo & Oriol Roca-Sagalés, 2015. "Regional inequalities, fiscal decentralization and government quality: empirical evidence from simultaneous equations," Working Papers. Collection A: Public economics, governance and decentralization 1501, Universidade de Vigo, GEN - Governance and Economics research Network.
    13. Andy Pike & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & John Tomaney & Gianpiero Torrisi & Vassilis Tselios, 2012. "In Search of the ‘Economic Dividend’ of Devolution: Spatial Disparities, Spatial Economic Policy, and Decentralisation in the UK," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 30(1), pages 10-28, February.
    14. ., 2014. "Devolution, city governance and economic performance," Chapters, in: Urban Economics and Urban Policy, chapter 7, pages 157-184, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Bruce M. Taylor & Ben P. Harman, 2016. "Governing urban development for climate risk: What role for public–private partnerships?," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(5), pages 927-944, August.
    16. Claudio Di Berardino & Giuseppe Mauro & Davide Quaglione & Alessandro Sarra, 2017. "Structural change and the sustainability of regional convergence: Evidence from the Italian regions," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(2), pages 289-311, March.
    17. Mindaugas Butkus & Alma Mačiulytė-Šniukienė & Kristina Matuzevičiūtė, 2020. "Mediating Effects of Cohesion Policy and Institutional Quality on Convergence between EU Regions: An Examination Based on a Conditional Beta-Convergence Model with a 3-Way Multiplicative Term," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-37, April.
    18. Roberta Arbolino & Raffaele Boffardi & Luisa De Simone, 2019. "Which are the Factors Influencing Innovation Performances? Evidence from Italian Cohesion Policy," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 146(1), pages 221-247, November.
    19. Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose & Anne Krøijer, 2009. "Fiscal Decentralization and Economic Growth in Central and Eastern Europe," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 387-417, September.
    20. Bachtrögler, Julia & Hammer, Christoph & Reuter, Wolf Heinrich & Schwendinger, Florian, 2017. "Spotlight on the beneficiaries of EU regional funds: A new firm-level dataset," Working Papers 02/2017, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung.

    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:loceco:v:28:y:2013:i:3:p:257-274. 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: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/index.shtml .

    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.