The role of state actors, policy and agency in development path creation: evidence from the English Midlands

Rossiter, W ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2199-1136, 2023. The role of state actors, policy and agency in development path creation: evidence from the English Midlands. PhD, Nottingham Trent University.

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Abstract

The central research questions addressed by this body of work are: (1) How can new paths of local and regional economic development be created? (2) What is the scope for state and individual actors and policy intervention to influence the path creation process? (3) How do these factors relate to contingencies specific to places at particular times?

The body of work under review comprises eight peer reviewed academic papers published between 2013 and 2021. This research is united by the substantive focus on the role of local/regional actors in economic development, the role of policy intervention and their respective influences on the process of path creation. Each paper is also in some way informed or motivated by the author's experience as a practitioner working in a variety of economic development roles in the English Midlands.

Early papers in the series focus on the changing practice of economic development in the Midlands after 2010 and the consequences of this changing practice for the development and policy content of economic strategies. Subsequent papers maintain this spatial focus, while using a number of case studies to explore the role of policy intervention and institutional and individual agency in the path creation process.

This focus on the path creation process in economic development firmly locates this body of work within evolutionary economic geography, but it is notable for drawing on a wider range of conceptual and theoretical underpinnings derived from political science, institutional analysis, public entrepreneurship and economic geography and related fields of enquiry. The rationale for this blend of conceptual underpinnings is the need to better integrate the role of human and institutional agency into accounts of the path creation process. In terms of method, the body of work combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to primary data collection with historical documentary analysis and the use of participant observation.

Academic contributions are made in relation to the combination of research methods employed; the application and synthesis of the theoretical perspectives utilised to develop a new model of path creation in economic development; and, empirically, in relating to the economic development of the post-industrial Midlands.

Item Type:	Thesis
Description:	Critical review submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Nottingham Trent University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by published work. Abridged version.
Creators:	Rossiter, W.
Date:	February 2023
Rights:	The copyright in this work is held by the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed to the author.
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	17 May 2023 10:02
Last Modified:	17 May 2023 10:03
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/48999

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