From its inception in the early 1970s, local economic policy has shifted, albeit in complex and locally speci c ways, through a variety of distinctive periods. One critical aspect of change has been the developing relation of 'economic' and 'social' policy spheres which are becoming less distinct, or even directly integrated. In this paper, we examine the emergence of ostensibly 'integrated' local economic and social strategies in two English metropolitan districts-Sandwell and Rotherham-which were at the forefront of policy development in the mid 1990s. In developing this analysis, we locate the roots of integrated policy in the changing ideological foundations of the relationship between economic and social policy under 'late Thatcherism' and 'New Labour', and in reactions to the shortcomings of previous Thatcherite urban policies. However, the process of integrated strategy-making is critically mediated by pre-existing institutional and political forms in localities, producing distinctive institutional responses and policy processes which in turn suggest the limits of policy integration in contemporary local governance.
Since the mid-1990s policy "integration" has become an increasingly salient theme within central government and local government policy-making. In this paper we report survey findings tracing the recent emergence of explicitly "integrated" local economic and social strategies, and the evolving position of ostensibly social themes in local economic strategies. These highlight some of the more important policy and institutional changes that have characterised local economic strategy in the post-Thatcher era. Subsequently, in the light of this initial data we outline a number of possible directions for further research.
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