Institutional Change, Governance and Regional Development: Problems and Perspectives

It is hardly surprising that institutionalised cooperation has become an important feature of regional development in recent years. Especially over the last decade, the range and number of organisations which have become involved with working in partnership has increased dramatically. This has progressed to the extent that many organisations achieve their objectives by collaborating closely with other organisations. This new institutional arrangement of operating has been partially driven by the declining financial support of national governments and the resulting growth of indigenous and bottom-up policies. In many cases European or national levels of government have created strong incentives for regional actors to enter into various forms of partnership because access to additional resources from, for example, the European Structural Funds or central government. The pragmatic reasons for entering into partnership arrangements also suggest that in practice formalised cooperation in regional development may work more or less smoothly, but that making it work may entail a significant effort.