Power and Leadership in Promotion of Regional Development: An Empirical Analysis of the Work of Finnish Regional Development Officers

Increased complexity and rapid pace of change demand more from people responsible forregional development at various levels of activity. This paper has its roots in a belief that themore complex situations are the more regional development is dependent on the leadership andnetwork management capacity of key individuals. It suggests that by studying more deeply theroles that various individuals, and coalitions formed by them, have in institutionalisation,deinstitutionalisation and reinstitutionalisation processes might provide us with additionalanalytical leverage in regional development studies. This paper focuses on diffuse networks ofdispersed powers from a Finnish regional development officer’s point of view. Regionaldevelopment officers are those people whose job it is to boost the economic development oftheir respective regions in Finland....