Regime Theory and Beyond: Urban Governance and Elections

2014 ◽  
pp. 32-48
Keyword(s):  
Urban Governance ◽  
Regime Theory

Urban Regime Theory in Comparative Perspective

1994 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Stoker ◽  
K Mossberger
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Urban Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime ◽  
National Comparison ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Essential Contribution ◽  
Cross National

The urban literature has devoted increasing attention to cross-national comparison of urban change and governance. What is lacking, however, is the development of conceptual frameworks that are adequate to embrace the greater variation in conditions encountered in cross-national research, compared with conditions within a single country. Without such a framework, comparison remains an exercise in depicting unique and unrelated cases. Urban regime theory holds potential for explaining the variety of arrangements through which policymakers in cities have coped with change, because of its sensitivity to local conditions and local actors. Its essential contribution is to focus attention on the collective action problems that have to be overcome for effective urban governance to emerge. The nature of the collective action challenge varies according to the purpose, composition, and position of potential regime partners. Substantial differences in motivating factors must be taken into account in order to apply regime analysis cross-nationally. Drawing upon differences already identified in the regime literature, the authors propose a typology of organic, instrumental, and symbolic regimes.

Between Realism and Revolt

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Davies
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
State Theory ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

Between Realism and Revolt explores urban governance in the “age of austerity”, focusing on the period between the global financial crisis of 2008-9 and the beginning of the global Coronavirus pandemic at the end of 2019. It considers urban governance after the 2008 crisis, from the perspective of governability. How did cities navigate the crisis and the aftermath of austerity, with what political ordering and disordering dynamics at the forefront? To answer these questions it engages with two influential theoretical currents, Urban Regime Theory and Gramscian state theory, with a view to understanding how governance enabled austerity, deflected or intensified localised expressions of crisis, and generated more-or-less successful political alternatives. It develops a comparative analysis of case studies undertaken in the cities of Athens, Baltimore, Barcelona, Greater Dandenong (Melbourne), Leicester, Montreal and Nantes, and concludes by highlighting five characteristics that cut across the cities, unevenly and in different configurations: economic rationalism, weak hegemony, retreat to dominance, weak counter-hegemony and radically contagious politicisations.

Developing Frameworks for Examining Community Participation in a Multi-Level Environment

2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Smith ◽  
Helen Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Community Participation ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Community Governance ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Multi Level

The purpose of this paper is to explore public participation from the perspective of two parallel developments in English urban governance since 1997: namely the attempts to modernise local government and area-based approaches employed to tackle social exclusion. The paper will situate these developments within a system of multi-level governance and highlight the significance of the locality-neighbourhood axis. The paper seeks to explicate current changes by drawing on theories of governance. The emphasis on mechanisms that bring together relevant local interests to secure coherence and stability in matters of local governance, combined with the specific focus on the role of citizens and communities as key partners in these arrangements resonates strongly with the key concerns of regime theory. The strengths and limitations of regime theory are discussed with particular reference to matters of contextual specificity. Community Governance is then introduced as a means of better understanding the institutional framework of English localities and, we argue, of providing a sounder basis for the application of regime theory. More powerful still is the potential synthesis of regime approaches with different interpretations of community governance and the paper concludes by drawing on recent developments in English localities to elaborate the potential offered by the this synthesised framework.

The Implications of State Takeovers for Urban Politics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Domingo Morel
Keyword(s):  
Urban Politics ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime ◽  
Urban Regimes ◽  
State Takeovers ◽  
Changing Role ◽  
Local Leaders

As states increase their presence in localities, what are the enduring implications for urban governance and theories of urban politics? The chapter examines urban regime theory, the dominant urban political theory of the last 30 years, and argues that although urban regime theory is still a relevant framework to analyze urban governance, the changing role of state actors, particularly governors, in urban regimes requires an expansion of urban regime theory as a conceptual framework. The chapter introduces the concept of cohesive and disjointed state-local regimes. The concept proposes that local leaders can best represent the needs of their communities under cohesive state-local regimes, while localities are exposed to less desirable, even hostile, state-led policies under disjointed state-local regimes.

Analyzing Urban Politics: A Mobilization–Governance Framework

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 1011-1052 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. McGovern
Keyword(s):  
Urban Politics ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Local Power ◽  
Carceral State ◽  
Governance Framework ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Contemporary Politics

This paper begins by examining recent scholarship on the carceral state and its political consequences as an opportunity to reassess the study of urban politics. Along with illuminating how race structures local power relations, research on the carceral state exposes gaps in the long-standing, political–economy paradigm, and in particular regime theory, concerning the political lives of ordinary people and the role of ideas, values, and ideology in shaping political behavior. At the same time, this paper recognizes the powerful impact of market forces on urban governance, as well as regime theory’s emphasis on organizational resources, intergroup collaboration, and coalition building in accounting for business influence over city policymaking. A new analytical approach is proposed—the mobilization–governance framework—that seeks to build on the insights of scholarship on the carceral state while retaining still-valuable aspects of regime theory. A case study of contemporary politics in Philadelphia is presented to illustrate how the mobilization–governance framework might be applied.

Participating in Partnership

1996 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Strange
Keyword(s):  
Urban Policy ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Affairs ◽  
Urban Regime ◽  
Development Agenda

In the context of changing relations between the state, business, and urban policy, this article focuses on the role of business participation in the regeneration of Sheffield. It assesses whether Sheffield's business leaders have been able to establish a distinctive business-orientated development agenda in Sheffield's regeneration coalition, and considers the extent to which business participation in urban affairs has been influenced by the restructuring of the local state by central government. A further aim of the paper is to explore the relevance of urban regime theory in interpreting the role of local business leaders in urban governance.

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