Developing inclusive approaches to regional governance in the post-referendum North East

Humphrey, Lynne; Shaw, Keith

doi:10.1080/13597560600652080

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…(House of Commons Select Committee on Communities and Local Government, 2007, p. 71) There may also be scope to strengthen the links between mechanisms of 'stakeholder' involvement at the local level, through Local Strategic Partnerships for example, and those still existing at the regional levelsuch as the Economic and Social Partners Groups within the Regional Assemblies. Some writers have argued that the former could be used as one of the nominating mechanisms for the latter, and that the creation of a new Regional Civic Forum would still be possible, even in the absence of a directly elected assembly (Humphrey & Shaw, 2006). Indeed, there would be a simple, and effective, way of ensuring that a range of public services would become democratically controlled.…”

Section: Keith Shaw and Fred Robinsonmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘The End of the Beginning’? Taking Forward Local Democratic Renewal in the Post-Referendum North East

Shaw

Robinson²

2007

Local Economy

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In a referendum in November 2004, the people of the North East decisively rejected the proposal to create a directly elected Regional Assembly. This result effectively put an end to proposals for Regional Assemblies elsewhere as plans for referenda in other regions were consequently abandoned. Drawing upon detailed interviews with a wide range of stakeholders in the North East, this article assesses why the North East voted 'No' and argues that despite the subsequent emergence of city-regions as an alternative framework for governance, what is still needed is a serious commitment to democratic renewal. Democratic connections between citizens and the state, between the taxpayer and public services, need to be rebuilt. Only a reinvigorated democracy can begin to dispel the cynicism and alienation that characterises the contemporary political process -and which, was a main factor behind the 'No' vote in the referendum. Given the failure of political devolution at the regional level, genuine democratic renewal must now being taken forward at the local level.

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Section: Keith Shaw and Fred Robinsonmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘The End of the Beginning’? Taking Forward Local Democratic Renewal in the Post-Referendum North East

Shaw

Robinson²

2007

Local Economy

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“…Meanwhile, among many other examples, papers focused on the tensions between the role of regional development agencies as drivers of economic competiveness and other roles relating to social cohesion and the environment (Pearce and Ayres 2009); on the extent to which they might work to challenge social deprivation (North et al 2007); on the extent to which regionally based government offices might fill a more extensive governance role (Pearce et al 2008); on the limits of the existing model as a means of delivering territorial equity (Pike and Tomaney 2009); and on the possibility of developing more inclusive approaches to regional governance (Humphrey and Shaw 2006).…”

Section: Making Up a Region: The Rise And Fall Of The 'South East Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

Making up a Region: The Rise and Fall of the ‘South East of England’ as a Political Territory

Cochrane

2012

Environ Plann C Gov Policy

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The recognition that geography, and political geography in particular, needs to be understood in relational terms has encouraged a degree of scepticism about approaches that identify territory as the basis of social and political organisation (see, eg, Allen and Cochrane, 2007; Amin, 2004). One response has been to develop complex stories of multiscalar, entangled, and overlapping sets of power relationships where understandings of``the geography of state leverage [are] far more malleable and indeterminate than hitherto'' (Allen and Cochrane, 2010, page 1072). This approach is particularly reflected in the subtle and often painstaking work of Neil Brenner and others (Brenner, 2004; Jessop et al, 2008), and in a more descriptive way in analyses of multilevel governance (Bache and Flinders, 2004; Healey, 2004) drawn from debates around the European Union and its governance. More recently, emphasis has been placed on the significance of the ways in which policies travel through space, being defined by their mobility as much as their often disputed origins, while necessarily being grounded and realised in particular places (McCann and Ward, 2011) Yet in some respects politics in practice still seems to retain a strong territorial focus, or at least territory seems still to provide a significant focus around which a range of political projects are organised. And territory has also made a strong theoretical comeback, as what Joe Painter (2010) has called``the quintessential state space'' (page 1090). Serious and often persuasive responses to some of the implications of following through the logic of relational thinking have sought to reclaim the notion of territory in creative ways (see, eg, Jonas, 2011; Jones, 2009). And Martin Jones (2009) has been particularly critical of the``crude caricature'' he suggests is being propagated by relational thinkers,``whereby all non-relational thinking is conveniently displaced into notions of static space'' (page 494). In rejecting any straightforward binary division between`relational' and`territorial' approaches, however, I seek to frame the issue rather differently, in the hope of being able to move beyond both the crude caricature identified by Jones as well as the equally crude caricature of`relational thinkers' which he presents in turn.

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Beyond the Territorial Fix: Regional Assemblages, Politics and Power

2007

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Allen J. and Cochrane A. (2007) Beyond the territorial fix: regional assemblages, politics and power, Regional Studies 41, 1161-1175. The idea of regions as territorially fixed in some vital political sense is a stubborn conception, one that is both mobilized to pursue selective interests and to establish regional identities. To assert that regions are political constructs, however, is not to say that such bounded, territorial entities enclose all the political relations that produce them. This paper puts forward a relational view of the region based upon an assemblage of political actors, some public, some private, where elements of central and local government are 'lodged' within the region, not acting above or below it. Using examples drawn from governing agencies across and beyond the south-east of England, it is shown how a more diffuse form of governance has given rise to a spatially discontinuous region. This is grounded in an exposition of the political assemblage that is Milton Keynes today, with its provisional, cross-cutting mix of institutional agencies, partnerships, businesses and interest groupings engaged in a 'politics of scale' exercise to fix the region. Allen J. et Cochrane A. (2007) Au-dela de la delimitation territoriale fixe: les regroupements regionaux, la politique et le pouvoir, Regional Studies 41, 1161-1175. D'un important point de vue politique, l'idee que la region constitue une zone bien delimitee fixe est une notion obstinee, dont on se sert afin de poursuivre des interets particuliers et d'etablir des identites regionales. Cependant, affirmer que la region est une structure politique ne veut pas dire que de telles delimitations territoriales embrassent tous les rapports politiques qui les creent. Cet article cherche a avancer un point de vue relationnel de la region fonde sur un regroupement d'agents regionaux politiques, les uns publics, les autres prives, ou des elements des administrations centrale et locale se sont 'loges' au sein de la region et n'agissent ni au niveau superieur, ni au niveau inferieur. A partir des exemples puises dans des agences publiques a travers et au-dela du Sud-est de l'Angleterre, on montre comment une forme de gouvernance plus diffuse a donne naissance a une region geographiquement discontinue. Cela est fonde sur une presentation d'un regroupement d'aujourd'hui, a savoir Milton Keynes, etant donne son melange provisoire d'agences institutionnelles, de partenariats, de commerces et de groupes d'interet qui se chevauchent et qui s'engagent dans une action de 'politique a l'echelle' afin de bien delimiter la region. Region;Regroupements;Pouvoir;Politique;Gouvernance;Reseaux Allen J. und Cochrane A. (2007) Jenseits der territorialen Festlegung: regionale Versammlungen, Politik und Macht, Regional Studies 41, 1161-1175. Die Idee der Regionen als in einem wesentlichen politischen Sinn territorial festgelegt ist eine hartnackige Vorstellung, die sowohl zur Durchsetzung selektiver Interessen als auch zur Festlegung regionaler Identitaten mobilisiert wird. D...

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Developing inclusive approaches to regional governance in the post-referendum North East

Cited by 4 publications

References 17 publications

‘The End of the Beginning’? Taking Forward Local Democratic Renewal in the Post-Referendum North East

‘The End of the Beginning’? Taking Forward Local Democratic Renewal in the Post-Referendum North East

Making up a Region: The Rise and Fall of the ‘South East of England’ as a Political Territory

Beyond the Territorial Fix: Regional Assemblages, Politics and Power

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