Greenwood, Robert (1991) The local state and economic development in peripheral regions : a comparative study of Newfoundland and Northern Norway. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

Preview

PDF WRAP_THESIS_Greenwood_1991.pdf - Submitted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (20Mb)

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

This comparative study of local development initiatives is inspired by efforts to
address the chronic economic underdevelopment of Newfoundland. It explores the
combination of economic and political forces which generate and sustain regional
disparities within industrialised countries. This requires a conceptualisation of
peripherality, underdevelopment and development. In the face of global economic
restructuring, there are emerging trends which may be creating development
opportunities which peripheral regions have social and economic advantages in
exploiting. As these are rooted in the the potential of regional production systems
of interdependent small and medium sized firms, economic development strategies
must be implemented on a sub-national, and - in the Canadian context - subprovincial
level. Traditional regional development policies by higher levels of
government have failed on both political and economic grounds; a lower level of
economic decision-making must take the lead if these emergent possibilities are to
be realized.
Local economic decision-making can take many forms: voluntary, third sector
bodies, regional boards or bureaucracies of higher levels of government, or elected
local government. Because only the last, the local state, can draw on the
legitimacy of local democratic accountability, combined with the authority and
resources of a state body, it is argued that it is best suited to implementing local
development strategies, particularly those which must foster the trust and
regional consensus for the delicate balance of co-operation and competition
necessary for successful inter-firm networks.
These conceptualisations provide the analytic thrust for a comparative analysis of
development efforts implemented by a range of local organisational forms in
Newfoundland and Northern Norway. Like Newfoundland, Northern Norway
depended upon resource exploitation, particularly the fishery, with similar labour
market and demographic characteristics. As part of a unitary state with weak
regional government but substantial local government autonomy, Northern Norway
provides a useful contrast in terms of local institutional forms. No assumption is
made that the findings of the four Norwegian case studies can be generalised to
the experience of the four Newfoundland cases examined. By relating the varying
forces at work in each context, however, analytic generalisation is possible, in
which the primary causal forces discerned in specific cases can inform theory,
which can in turn be related to other contexts. Only by attemptig .to discern the
substantial constraints on efforts to generate economic activity in peripheral
regions can appropriate organisational forms and development strategies be
adopted.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Economic development -- Newfoundland, Economic development -- Norway, Canada -- Economic conditions -- Regional disparities, Newfoundland -- Economic conditions, Normway -- Economic conditions
Official Date:	August 1991
Dates:	Date Event August 1991 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	School of Industrial and Business Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Hyman, Richard ; Nolan, Peter, 1949- ; Geddes, Mike, 1943-
Sponsors:	Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the United Kingdom
Extent:	xxii, 401, [vii] leaves
Language:	eng

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item

Downloads