The Localization of Development in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Economic development increasingly is a local, bottom-up phenomenon in the context of global restructuring, budget crises, and reduced funding to regions and cities. Neither the public nor private sectors can adequately plan for change alone; thus, government and business have entered into a partnership to achieve local development. To date, however, the effectiveness of many local initiatives is uncertain. Through comparative examination of different national contexts and types of places within nations, this article specifies the conditions under which we may expect development strategies to succeed.

Despite similar developmental avenues in the United States and many European countries, outcomes are mediated by national context, specifically by mode of production and institutionalized industrial and labor relations. Modes of production that engender principles of cooperation and collaboration in the workplace are more likely to encourage partnership principles between government and business, as well as among firms and citizens. Within nations, however, the parameters of social relations that are defined by the national mode of production may be mediated by social relations within locales. Specifically, cooperativeness and sense of community formed and sustained through the dynamic of kin and non-kin networks are critical prerequisites to effective local development strategy, which may otherwise falter without policies to engender appropriate social relations and articulate production and consumption concerns. Contriving change may be more feasible in locales that have been shaken by crisis, dismantling the sociopolitical relations of a previous order to allow for evaluation.

Key words:

• global restructuring
• local development
• community
• collective action
• mode of production
• industrial and labor relations
• government-business relations
• public-private partnerships
• comparative analysis