Regional Governance and Economic Development

Gerard Maas, together with Kingsley Haynes, Roger Stough, and James Riggle of the School of Public Policy at George Mason University, has examined regionalisation in federal states from the perspective of its relationship to economic development and governance. The experiences of federal states yield insights that may be useful for other states, including those that do not have a federal system of governance.

From a comparative perspective, the trend toward regional cohesion will likely continue in both unitary and federal states. However, there are barriers that can dampen the role regions will likely play in these systems of governance. These include the sector-organization of central government bureaucracies, their sectoral orientation in policy and program development and the (im)possibilities of regional representation and empowerment. The expanded role of regions in economic development is unlikely to be fully reflected in governance due to a continued strong federal or central government role, particularly in the area of participation in supra-national decision-making processes.

The review of experiences of regional development in federal systems yields important insights for planning intervention at a regional level in unitary states. The principal lesson is that it is important to acknowledge that policy makers are dealing with regional jurisdictions in a constant process of dynamic realignment. A federal system neither automatically implies that the regional dimension is recognized nor that appropriate arrangements flow out of federal institutions.

Background Materials

Regional Economic Development and Governance: Lessons from Federal States. Paper by Haynes, Kingsley E., Gerard C. Maas, and Roger R. Stough, presented at the Conference on Regionalisation in Unitary States: France and the Netherlands in Comparative Perspective, November 4-7, 1992, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (Read Only).

Regional Governance and Economic Development: Lessons from Federal States. Paper by Haynes, Kingsley E., Gerard C. Maas, Roger R. Stough, and James D. Riggle, presented at the 36th Congress of the European Regional Science Association, August 26-30, 1996, Zürich, Switzerland.(Printable).

Haynes, Kingsley E., Gerard C. Maas, Roger R. Stough, and James D. Riggle, Regional Governance and Economic Development: Lessons from Federal States, in: Danson, Michael, Stephan Hill and Gregg Lloyd (Eds), European Research in Regional Science Volume 7: Regional Governance and Economic Development, 1997, pp. 68-84 (PION Limited, London).

See also Regional Governance, Institutions and Development, in Chapter Seven of the Web Book of Regional Science, a collection of online introductory learning materials for use by advanced undergraduates, graduates, and practitioners.

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