The Rescaling of Economic Governance: Insights into the Transitional Territories of England

Abstract

The development of functional economic areas and their relationship to governance has been attracting considerable attention. New forms of sub-regional governance have emerged that have been interpreted in a variety of ways. Within this context, a different approach to multiscalar governance linked to economic space is emerging at a European level in relation to the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. This is embedding the principles of subsidiarity/territorial cohesion within member-states, and with sub-state scales of working being promulgated. This paper adds to existing discussions of city-regionalism by providing an alternative-yet fundamentalinsight into these reform constructs within England in its relations with the EU. It explores: the role of economic spaces in the genealogy of rescaling tendencies; their co-option of governance as a 'strategic' mechanism for growth; and the emergent geo-politics associated with new sub-state governance structures and their effectiveness as intended 'transitionary' arrangements.

Policy Convergence, Divergence and Communities: The Case of Spatial Planning in Post-Devolution Britain and Ireland

“…In England, the abolition of regional planning has been replaced by strategic plans with an economic focus which have been introduced outside the planning system. Yet, these plans in England appear to be very similar to the strategic development plans in Scotland undertaken through the planning system (Pemberton & Morphet, 2014).…”

Rescaling the suburban: New directions in the relationship between governance and infrastructure

“…There are critics of this approach (Brenner 1999; Haughton 2010). Jessop (1997) has also argued that these are spatiotemporal fixes although Pemberton and Morphet (2014) have categorised this as a process of transitional territorialism rather than an end state.…”

“…Thus, the international pressures to reform and rescale internal sub-state administrative government and its boundaries are considerable although each government will approach these external pressures in differently. An understanding of the approaches of central governments in achieving these changes is informed by the literature on statecraft together with its emerging alliance with 'scalecraft' as a means of analysing the rescaling sub-state governance (Fraser, 2010;Pemberton and Searle, 2016).This rescaling is located in different cultural contexts, with its intermediate slippery stages or transitional territorialism (Pemberton and Morphet 2014) to realignment.…”

Governing the new metropolis

“…Deas (2013) goes a step further to argue that, despite Manchester's status as an exemplary model of city-region governance, what has been conveniently overlooked in many commentaries is the fact that there has been almost complete absence of debate, challenge, or dispute over the form and function of those institutions purportedly providing formal democratic oversight. This theme of transparency in decision-making is also picked up by Pemberton and Morphet (2013) in their analysis of the EU's role in framing, shaping, and informing the construction of new urban-regional spaces in England. Revealing a hitherto untold story of how policy elites are creating new governance structures in full awareness of their legal obligations to implement EU policy on subsidiarity, Pemberton and Morphet argue that the mechanics of EU-UK relations have been internalised by a lack of transparency in the implementation of, and compliance with, EU agreements and the ideological rhetoric dominant in the national political discourse.…”