The changing role and structure of the local state in economic development

Abstract

Decentralisation to a variety of spatial scales is a prominent global trend in government and governance. Uneven decentralisation of powers, responsibilities and resources has placed a greater focus on local actors and the governance of cities and city-regions to coordinate local institutions and capacity. This thesis examines the changing role and structure of the local state in the evolving sub-national frameworks of government and governance for economic development and how this has been unfolded by national and local actors across different scales. The empirical study focuses upon the cases of Greater Manchester and the North East in England. The English case presents an advanced example of local state restructuring within a highly centralised governance system marked by continuous reorganisation of sub-national governance arrangements in the post-war period, including the abolition of the regional tier by the Coalition government in 2010. Critically engaging with the literature on the autonomy and agency of the local state, and local institutions and economic development, a framework is proposed to understand and explain the implications for local government within a shifting landscape of decentralisation and austerity. The framework is used to examine and explain how sub-national government and governance has changed in the North East and Greater Manchester. The research demonstrates that amidst a reconfiguration of responsibilities involving (re)centralisation and decentralisation, and unprecedented reductions and incremental moves towards the localisation of funding and financing; local government remains pivotal in the sub national governance of economic development but in new and reworked approaches and institutional forms. This research contributes empirically towards questions on the role and contribution of local institutions in economic development by examining what these changes mean for the elected and unelected local state in the development of localities. Emerging from this are contributions to theorising the local state and its role in economic development in terms of institutional permanence and inter-generational outcomes and on adapting accountability and scrutiny in shifting institutional forms.