This article looks at the international dimension of local and regional economic development policy. We illustrate our argument about the difficulties of comparing the relative effectiveness of policy using the experience of a comparative study of local and regional economic development in...

HART T., HAUGHTON G. and PECK J. (1996) Accountability and the non-elected local state: calling Training and Enterprise Councils to local account, Reg. Studies 30, 429-441. This paper examines the emergence of local accountability as a key concern in the emergent tier of local governance in...

This paper examines the changing practices of spatial planning, critically engaging with state theory to argue that a new generation of ‘soft spaces’ and ‘fuzzy boundaries’ occupies a key position in the emergent planning system. In the process we question whether privileged scales and...

In this paper we argue that the emerging new systems for subnational plans and spatial strategies represent a highly contested policy terrain over which battles are being played out about what constitute the appropriate scale, scope, and process of strategic planmaking activities. Significantly,...

The author examines the rapidly expanding market for private sector management of water systems. He explores the ways in which markets are being constructed, focusing on the role of international bodies -- especially multilateral bodies such as the World Bank -- in promoting various forms of...

Since the mid-1990s the notion of 'hollowing out' has been increasingly used within debates about the changing role of the nation-state in the management and regulation of public services. This paper is concerned with the impact of the various processes of hollowing out on innovation actions in...

Haughton G., Counsell D. and Vigar G. Sustainable development in post-devolution UK and Ireland, Regional Studies. Strategies for sustainable development have been produced aplenty in recent years, with numbers increasing in the context of devolution. This paper examines the way in which they...

In this paper we put forward the case for viewing ‘spatial planning’ as a political resource, one which has been largely supportive of the rollout neoliberal approach of New Labour. Drawing on work on postpolitics, we argue that ironically the progressive credentials of spatial planning in...