Governance, the state and sustainable tourism: a political economy approach

Abstract

Collective actions are often needed to promote the objectives of sustainable tourism in destinations. Governance is the basis of these collective actions. This paper contends that research on the governance of tourism and sustainability would benefit from greater use of social theory. It shows how one social theory, a strategic-relational political economy approach, can offer insights into state interventions affecting tourism and sustainability in destinations. The paper uses a literature review and case studies incorporating ideas from this approach to understand the state's influences on tourism and sustainability. Case studies are taken from Germany, China, Malta, Turkey and the UK. A range of distinctive perspectives and themes associated with this approach are assessed. They include the approach's holistic, relational and dialectical perspective, its focus on the state's roles in regulating the economic and political systems, its concern with the interactions between agency and structure, and the adaptation of state activities at different spatial scales and at different times, together with the concepts of path dependence and path creation. These perspectives and themes are directions for future research on governance, the state and sustainable tourism.

政策治理，政府，和可持续性旅游：一种政治经济方法

在目的地宣传可持续性旅游的目的时，公共领域协调的合作行为是经常需要的。政策治理是这些合作行为的基础。该文辩论，旅游和可持续性政策治理的研究能有益于社会学理论中更广泛的运用。文章解释了一种社会学理论，一种战略关系的政治经济手段，能用来理解目的地的政府的干预调解手段如何影响旅游和可持续化。文章使用与该想法有关的文献阅读和案例分析来理解政府对旅游和可持续性的影响。案例来自德国，中国，马耳他，土耳其和英国。一系列关于该方法的独特的见解和主题也在文中讨论了。这些见解包括对该方法的全面性，关联性和多元化的理解，对政府在经济和政治系统管辖中职责的聚焦，对个人和组织之间关系的看法，政府在不同空间和不同时间行为的适应和改变，还有，轨道独立和轨道创造这些概念。这些见解和主题是对今后政策治理，政府和可持续性旅游相关研究的主要方向。

Keywords:

• governance
• social theory
• political economy
• state interventions
• state re-scaling

Keywords:

• 政策治理
• 社会学理论
• 政治经济
• 政府干预
• 政府重组

Acknowledgements

The suggestions provided by three anonymous referees and Bernard Lane are very gratefully acknowledged. They substantially helped in the process of improving the paper, although the interpretations of their suggestions are the author's.