ABSTRACT
Building upon the insights about the shifting context of local and regional development (Chapter 1), the fundamental question of “What kind of local and regional development and for whom?” (Chapter 2) and the frameworks of understanding in concepts and theories of local and regional development, institutions and governance (Chapters 3 and 4), this chapter focuses on the rationales for intervention, visions and strategy, and policy design and development. Situated in Part III, focused on interventions, policies and instruments, the chapter first examines the different arguments and rationales used by actors to think about and justify interventions in the relations and processes of local and regional development and its government and governance in particular times and spaces. Informed by the different concepts and theories of local and regional development (Chapter 3), different actors such as state, private and civic – as well as hybrid institutional forms including public-private partnerships and quasi-state agencies – take different perspectives on whether or not to intervene and get involved as part of attempts to shape versions of development regionally and locally. In democratic political systems, elected politicians and ministers make decisions on policy priorities and are held accountable for their choices. Rationales, strategies, policies and their evaluation are necessarily political and are situated within power relations and institutional structures.
