Regional Governance Flashcards
Regional Governance
How political governance can take place in a co-operative way between actors/institutions/political authorities (for example at the regional level) to overcome deficiencies in political steering capacities
Government Failures and policy failures (Possible reasons):
o Increasing complexity of policy making
o Increasing internationalization of policies
o Increasing importance of international organizations
o Decreasing possibilities to intervene in entrepreneurial activities
o Decreasing financial scope of actions of the public sector
o Disability to provide essential public goods in an efficient and effective manner
o Dissatisfaction with politics in economy and society
The understanding of Governance
a new way of political steering
Government:
o Hierarchical steering in a governmental/political framework
o Enforcement of politically legitimated power
Definition of Region PRINCIPLES
The principle of similarity
+ the principle of functional interlinkages
+ the pragmatic principle of planning
= Region
The perception of region always depends on the specific perspective (scale)
Regions can be defined by different criteria and their corresponding functional interlinkages
o Geographical
o Linguisitic
o Historical
o Functional
Regions in Switzerland are between the national and the local level
Two drivers for the rise of regions
Bottom-up-development
Cities and communities transfer obligations to an upper level to
o 1. Assure a greater congruency between the space of problem and the space of action
o 2. Attain productivity gains
Top-down-development
The federal level and the cantons are increasingly delegating the implementation of political problems to inferior levels. In this context, the foundation of new regional institutions is explicitly required, which have to meet a set of quality standards
Further definition regional governance
Regional Governance is a new model of a system overlapping co-operation of actors from politics, administration, economy, and society with regard to regional development
Cooperation of actors takes place within vertical, horizontal and lateral intertwined networks
Regional governance is based on a system of jointly developed rules and norms
Regional governance has a territorial delimited frame of reference
Success Factors for Regional Governance
- Fundamental Requirements
Main group of actors with a high societal acceptance
Horizontal, vertical and lateral interlinkages
Co-operative internal system of interaction
Existence of an internal set of “rules”
Openness to the network for new actors and new (external) stimuli
Integration of new regional elites
Formal regional competence for steering in the specific policy field
a. Supporting Factors for the Success Factors for Regional Governance
Availability of resources and capacities
Capable political-administrative system
Positive personal relationships between the main actors
Shared values or shared knowledge of the main actors
Clear distinction between pushing factors with (political) power and those with professional competencies
b. Impeding Factors for the Success Factors for Regional Governance
Nobody who is feeling responsible for the process
Competitive and conflict ridden system of interaction in the region
Political power games of main actors
Conservative attitudes
Distributional conflicts in the implementation phase
Different rationalities of acting
The limits of governance
Development of cartels Deficiencies in legitimization High coordination costs Non-binding character without any possibilities for sanctions Change of mentality as a prerequisite Low effectiveness
Government vs. Governance - Polity
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Government vs. Governance - Politics
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Government vs. Governance - Policy
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Old Regions Model
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