Premium
Towards new regionalism? Case study of changing regional governance in the Yangtze River Delta
Author(s) -
Li Yi,
Wu Fulong
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
asia pacific viewpoint
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.571
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1467-8373
pISSN - 1360-7456
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8373.2012.01479.x
Subject(s) - regionalism (politics) , devolution (biology) , jurisdiction , corporate governance , negotiation , regional integration , competition (biology) , politics , regional planning , government (linguistics) , political science , economic system , economic geography , business , economics , urban planning , international trade , geography , democracy , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , finance , law , biology , human evolution
This paper draws on a series of interviews with urban planners and government officials to examine the changing regional governance in the Yangtze River Delta. It finds that integration and collaboration are emerging and the growing economic benefits of intercity cooperation serves as a driver for local government to change from hostile competition to collaboration. Nevertheless, regional governance is far from established. Instead, regional transformations reflect the local politics of economic devolution and urban entrepreneurialism. Currently, there is no formal regional institution or coalition and the regional agenda is economic oriented and project based. Policies are formulated by individual cities rather than through multilateral negotiation between cities. The primary motive underlying the initiatives for cooperation is regional economic competitiveness rather than regional integration. Hence, the paper argues that emerging collaboration is far from being a substantial departure from inter‐jurisdiction competition in the earlier phase of regional governance.