Examining local action groups as territorial development polities: CLLD in Lisbon Metropolitan Area

Over the past three decades, Local Action Groups (LAGs) have gained significant relevance as territorial development polities. Initially established in the 1990s under the LEADER programme, EU-funded LAGs were lauded for their ability to engage local stakeholders, promote proactivity, and build capacity for designing and implementing Local Development Strategies (LDS). With the introduction of the Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) policy initiative in the 2014–2020 Community Support Framework, the geographical scope of LAGs expanded beyond rural and coastal to include urban areas. However, there is a standing critique regarding the role and impact of LAGs in creating spatial-temporal fixes, addressing local issues through innovative governance arrangements, and facilitating multi-level interaction and territorial rescaling. This paper focuses on the Lisbon Metropolitan Area to critically examine these aspects amidst ongoing Europeanisation dynamics and a soft turn in planning theory and practices. Specifically, we scrutinize LAGs’ strategic territorial rationale, cultural adherence, institutionalization, and the intra – and inter-politics of their governance arrangements. The findings indicate limitations in governance rescaling due to the instrumentalization, over-centralization, and standardization of LAGs by external powers, which hinder their potential role and impact as territorial development polities and agents of state re-articulation.