ABSTRACT
The analysis of the transition from “managerialism” to “entrepreneurialism” is strongly influenced by two related conceptual frameworks: urban regime theory and the growth machine thesis. Urban regime theory looks at how urban local authorities build coalitions with other interests, mainly in the private sector, in order to facilitate local economic development. This chapter draws upon several theoretical currents in regulation and neo-Gramscian state theory with a view to recontextualizing the analysis of urban politics. Prompted perhaps by the theoretical and methodological shortcomings, there have been several recent attempts to deploy regulationist concepts in urban political analysis. Nonetheless, some distance remains between the respective approaches of regulationists and analysts of urban politics and governance. While a range of case studies discloses that urban political forms are varied, thereby highlighting what one might refer to as “microdiversity”. Despite the emergence of what looked like a more vibrant urban politics, Manchester’s Olympic project was heavily dependent on the decisions of national political actors.
