ABSTRACT
The advent of Thatcherism in the UK, and neo-liberalism globally, fundamentally changed the prevailing parameters of debate. The region had been a feature of government policy, but the ascent of economic neo-liberalism and centralised politics with Thatcher's government made the landscape less hospitable for the research and policy advocated by membership. Between 1980 and 1997, the Regional Science Association (RSA) continued to perform an important connecting function, though the actors it enrolled and how it maintained their engagement began to change. The academic and policy context that the Association inhabited during the 1980s was a significant departure from its previous 15 years. As a policy-focussed field, regional studies began to adapt to its changing environment, and some felt that it drifted away from its critical, even radical, interpretations of the regional problem and prevailing market-orientated approaches, which caused some groups to drift away. Regional Studies continued to be a site of intellectual conflict that flared with every change of editor.
