Innovation and the Puzzle of Devolution in the UK

Abstract

The analysis of the three UK cases focuses on the extent to which public spending has proven effective in the promotion of growth in less-developed regions. In the three cases, we explore the effects of Structural Funds programmes on the catching up areas that are the sub-regions of West Wales and the Valleys (WW), South Yorkshire (SY) and Highlands and Islands (HI), with a particular focus on the first two cases. Contextually, each of the three sub-regions is part of an aided region, respectively of Wales, Yorkshire and Humber and Scotland. In each of the three sub-regions, the programme has been managed from outside the area: from Cardiff by the Welsh Regional Assembly for WW; from London in the case of SY; and Glasgow for HI. However, local partners play a role in each of the three programmes. The extent to which that role is more central or marginal is closely related to the type of partnership endorsed for a working relationship between the regional capital and local communities in the implementation of the programmes. Both the nature of the partnership and the working relationship are related to the institutional model of governance for the economic development processes that prevail in each region. We now investigate the design and implementation of the governance models in the three regions under consideration.