Sustainable governance? Empirical challenges to theories of regional governance (529)

Theme Track: Regional and Urban Planning - Governance of sustainable development

Authors:
Lückenkötter, Johannes ; Kroës, Günter

''Governance'' is slowly becoming the mainstream regional development approach - both in theory and planning practice. Bringing together representatives of the state, the private economy and civil society in so-called public-private partnerships, regional networks, fora etc. has become widely accepted practice for coordinating regional development. Some European, national and regional funding programmes are promoting or even require the formation of such partnerships before granting public funds. This practice is supported by various theoretical approaches that explain and justify the shift from ''government'' to ''governance''. However, despite the current popularity of the governance approach, its political and institutional implications especially in regard to a future-oriented regional development are still largely unclarified.

Taking the case of rural development partnerships in Europe this paper seeks to address the issue of sustainability of the governance approach. First, relevant theories will be identified and analysed regarding their explanations and predictions of the emergence and benefits of regional governance. These propositions are then juxtaposed with empirical findings based on an investigation of 330 development partnerships and 24 in-depth case studies conducted in collaboration with research institutes in Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy. The outcomes of the research are varied and may not be easily generalisable to all forms of regional governance. Nevertheless, certain strengths and weaknesses are identified and their underlying mechanisms explained. The paper ends with a critical re-evaluation of the theories of governance in light of the empirical findings.

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