Periodic Reporting for period 1 - REGinTRAN (Advanced manufacturing and the transition of regional economies: institutions, social regulation and development in Apulia and Lower Silesia)
Berichtszeitraum: 2018-11-01 bis 2021-04-30
REGinTRAN aimed to analyze under which conditions industrial policies in less developed regions might encourage an inclusive development trajectory. Industrial upgrading through the promotion of export-oriented manufacturing sectors is indeed considered as a development receipt for less developed regions in so far it tries to bind together mainstream approaches based on the attraction of investments with concerns for local economic development in terms of employment, gender dynamics and sustainable livelihoods. However, the impact of these industrial strategies on local economies is controversial. Industrial upgrading might turn out to be a re-looked version of traditional inward economic development policies which prioritize firm profitability over collective oriented objectives, namely improving workers conditions and citizens’ well-being. In that regard REGinTRAN aimed at scrutinizing the role that territorial politics and collective action might play in promoting industrial policies that can discipline the behavior of transnational market actors by introducing specific control mechanisms and criteria of redistribution to the local community. The research builds on a comparison of two regions located in the old and new European peripheries and analyzes the socio-political processes underlying the building of an autonomous development agenda. The economic peripherality of the two regions together with the heritage of a public culture shaped by a political and administrative dependency on the central state are two structural economic and institutional conditions that constrain the marge of manœuvre of local political and social actors to develop an autonomous agenda and steer socio-economic change.
The project raised two interrelated issues which are important for society. First, the analysis aimed to disentangle the political dilemmas that peripheral local societies face when struggling to promote at the same time industrial upgrading and inclusive development. In that regard it aimed to recast traditional policy-receipts that use to put the emphasis on the virtues of managerial reforms to strengthen the institutional capacity of sub-national governments at the expenses of the promotion of forms of social and political democracy and representation. Secondly, the research touches upon governance problems by exploring the linkages between sectoral (industrial development) and territorial (regional development) policies. In that regard the research contributes to highlight the existing limits of industrial policies in adopting a place-base perspective driven by the objective of promoting a more even distribution of opportunities for people in the places where they live.
Theoretically the project aimed at questioning the processes and mechanisms through which actors can deploy a capacity to bring about change in highly constrained contexts. The research aimed at contributing to an interdisciplinary literature on institutional and political change and globalization. The project was also driven by a policy-oriented objective in so far it aimed to study common challenges faced by the two regions in promoting an autonomous development agenda and inclusive development and to highlight approaches for overcoming lock-in effects to dependent models of development.
The project raised two interrelated issues which are important for society. First, the analysis aimed to disentangle the political dilemmas that peripheral local societies face when struggling to promote at the same time industrial upgrading and inclusive development. In that regard it aimed to recast traditional policy-receipts that use to put the emphasis on the virtues of managerial reforms to strengthen the institutional capacity of sub-national governments at the expenses of the promotion of forms of social and political democracy and representation. Secondly, the research touches upon governance problems by exploring the linkages between sectoral (industrial development) and territorial (regional development) policies. In that regard the research contributes to highlight the existing limits of industrial policies in adopting a place-base perspective driven by the objective of promoting a more even distribution of opportunities for people in the places where they live.
Theoretically the project aimed at questioning the processes and mechanisms through which actors can deploy a capacity to bring about change in highly constrained contexts. The research aimed at contributing to an interdisciplinary literature on institutional and political change and globalization. The project was also driven by a policy-oriented objective in so far it aimed to study common challenges faced by the two regions in promoting an autonomous development agenda and inclusive development and to highlight approaches for overcoming lock-in effects to dependent models of development.
The research was organized in three main parts. First, an extensive literature review about patterns of industrialization and their underlying socio-political and institutional dynamics in peripheral areas of Europe and of developing countries, was carried out. Secondly, the research has focused on the comparative analysis of policy-tools used in the two regions to sustain investments of firms, namely programming contracts in Italy and special economic zones in Poland. The research has allowed to point out commonalities between these two policy-tools which concern in particular the lack of a place-based and territorial dimension. Finally, the analysis has zoomed in the transformation of two local economies, the city of Brindisi and Wałbrzych, which were struggling to implement alternative local development policies in order to break away from a legacy of very environmental impactful and dependent form of development.
The research built on a variety of original primary data collected through: - 43 semi-structured interviews of approximately 1h00 each with local policymakers (political and administrative élites) and representatives of socio-economic organizations (business and unions ‘representatives) ; - a documentary analysis of reports, strategic economic and planning documents covering the last two decades (2000 – 2020) ; - a press analysis of local media articles on industrial policies and programmatic declarations of local politicians (N=300).
The research results have been discussed and presented in a variety of occasions involving both the academic community, students and policy-actors. In particular the researcher has attended five international conferences (Congress of French Political Science Association, 2019 ; ECPR Congress Southern European Politics group, 2020 ; International Sociological Association, Sociology of Development Panel, 2021 ; Regional Studies Association Congress, Regions in Recovery, 2021 ; Congress of the Italian Economic Sociology Association, 2021). Moreover, an international workshop opened to students and policymakers on local development strategies has been organized jointly by the University of Florence and the University of Barcelona. The researcher has also given lectures in the Doctoral Program on socio-political change of the University of Florence and University of Turin on methodological and theoretical issues of the project. Finally, a policy-brief has been written and addressed to all the actors that have been interviewed in order to disseminate the main policy-lessons that stemmed out from the comparison.
The research built on a variety of original primary data collected through: - 43 semi-structured interviews of approximately 1h00 each with local policymakers (political and administrative élites) and representatives of socio-economic organizations (business and unions ‘representatives) ; - a documentary analysis of reports, strategic economic and planning documents covering the last two decades (2000 – 2020) ; - a press analysis of local media articles on industrial policies and programmatic declarations of local politicians (N=300).
The research results have been discussed and presented in a variety of occasions involving both the academic community, students and policy-actors. In particular the researcher has attended five international conferences (Congress of French Political Science Association, 2019 ; ECPR Congress Southern European Politics group, 2020 ; International Sociological Association, Sociology of Development Panel, 2021 ; Regional Studies Association Congress, Regions in Recovery, 2021 ; Congress of the Italian Economic Sociology Association, 2021). Moreover, an international workshop opened to students and policymakers on local development strategies has been organized jointly by the University of Florence and the University of Barcelona. The researcher has also given lectures in the Doctoral Program on socio-political change of the University of Florence and University of Turin on methodological and theoretical issues of the project. Finally, a policy-brief has been written and addressed to all the actors that have been interviewed in order to disseminate the main policy-lessons that stemmed out from the comparison.
The main innovative aspect of the research has been to question mechanisms for breaking away from economic and institutional dependence. Moreover, the research compared two regional and local economies located in the old and new peripheries of Europe, thus adding an original contribution to the literature on diversity of capitalism and processes of economic and political divergence in Europe. The main contributions of the project to such literature are threefold. First, the project has allowed to point out the centrality of place, place-based political and social mobilizations, as an overlooked dimension of the analysis on socio-economic change. Secondly, the project has contributed to bring back politics into the analysis of the diversity of ways global dynamics impact local societies. Finally, the project added an original contribution to the literature on new institutionalism by focusing the attention on processes of change and continuity of state-society relations over time. The project will also bring an important contribution for policy-debates about the linkages between industrial policies and regional policies to overcome socio-spatial inequalities. These results are in line with the place-based approach as a policy-paradigm to escape from external dependency and underdevelopment traps.