Desglosando la dimensión participativa de la democracia

The research is a comparative appraisal of regeneration policies impacting on declining coalfield areas using three coalfields as case studies. Older industrial areas have been identified as particularly vulnerable to the structural changes of this period of transition. In particular the rapid decline of the UK coal industry has resulted in regional decline and acute problems for many localities. Consequently, the intention is to compare three

coalfield areas, all at different stages of decline and change, and to identify the problems and successes of regeneration policy. The four interrelated components of regeneration previously identified are used to assist the comparison - physical, employment, training and community empowerment. By examining these four components in three coal areas the study seeks to do the following:

• Compare policies designed to ameliorate the impact of colliery closures through direct assistance to ex-miners and mining communities and through regional regeneration policy

• Interpret such policies in the context of their implicit models of the regeneration process

• Assess whether there is any empirical evidence that policy prescriptions provide the basis for effective solutions to the problems of regeneration.

2. The usefulness o f concepts as analytical tools and guides to policies

The theoretical context, as presented earlier, raises many questions about how trends in economic and social development are interpreted and how it feeds into policy

implementation. It is considered whether a range of concepts which include ‘post- Fordism’, ‘flexible specialisation’, ‘post-industrial’, ‘uneven re-development’ and

‘globalisation’, assist or hinder our understanding of the process of economic and social change. To explore the links between theory and practice and between global and local, we take into account the theoretical preoccupations of contemporary regional policy. These preoccupations fall into two closely interrelated categories: those concerned with modes of production and those which examine the role of institutions.

We will ask if there is any potential for regeneration policies involving the development of small and medium sized firms (SMEs) and whether there are elements of ‘post- Fordism’ and ‘flex-specialisation’ in the coal areas which represent a way forward. The prescriptive outcome of some interpretations of current and future developments is that flexible-specialisation and the emergence of ‘industrial districts’ (Piore and Sabel, 1984, Cooke and Morgan, 1993) can benefit local and regional economies within Europe. This proposition will be evaluated.

The prospects and opportunities identified by this interpretation, in particular the examples of Emilia-Romagna and Baden-Wurtemburg, provide a substantial part of regional policy. An alternative view is that contemporary trends present a threat to older industrial regions. Consequently an assessment will be made of whether progress or economic hysteresis will be the likely outcome and if this involves the effective abandonment of coalfield communities. If what is happening is the widening of socio­ economic inequality due to the uneven development of capitalism and the spatial division of labour, then we need to examine the suggestion that the power of multi­ nationals and globalisation of capitalism is ultimately destructive for older industrial regions (Hall, 1988, Hudson, 1994). This interpretation argues that there is little chance of such declining regions repositioning themselves favourably in the world market and that the evidence so far is that they will be left behind in terms of economic

development. If economic development is thought to be too problematic then the policy options will inevitably turn to the containment of the social consequences or what Hudson refers to as ‘welfarist solutions’ (1994.) The following issues will be addressed: • An exploration of the co-development of the theoretical concerns with ‘post-

Fordism’ and ‘flexible specialisation’, policy ideas and policy implementation in coal areas

• Assessment of the likelihood of declining coal areas repositioning themselves to take advantage of new developments

• Identification of aspects of the economic and social condition of coalfield communities that enhance or hinder economic development, promote social inclusion or exclusion.

3♦ Institutional issues

A third area of enquiry is to examine the notion that there is a ‘socio - institutional inadequacy to foster new development opportunities’ (Albrechts, 1989) and that the form of ‘institutional thickness’ (Amin & Thrift, 1994) and culture dominant in coalfield areas precludes the possibility of these areas successfully repositioning themselves in the regional, national and international markets.

This approach involves assessing the situation in the coalfields from the point of view of the institutional structures that mediate between policy and practice, politics and

economics. This will include an examination of the possibilities for localities to ‘hold down the global’ by targeting policies at those aspects of regeneration over which we can have more control (Amin and Thrift, 1994). There is an emerging body of opinion that de-regulatory responses to global forces serve only to exacerbate economic and social problems at the national , regional and local level (see for example Amin and Thrift, 1994, 1995, Peck and Tickell, 1994, Peck 1994). There is no general agreement by the regulationist school that a new regime of accumulation has emerged and therefore the policy makers’ acceptance of a new regime and a post-industrial vision has

consequent dangers. They prefer to describe this period as one of transition, and in particular, point to the lack of a socio-political framework to stabilise the economic flux. In this period, whilst some nation states are deregulating, they suggest that more control in managing the global economy requires some ‘filling in’ rather than ‘hollowing out’ of the state (Peck and Tickell, 1994). This study will make use of these concepts by:

• Examining the implementation of policy through particular institutions and agencies • Assessing which socio-institutional elements within the three coal regions obstruct

or assist economic regeneration

• Identifying political and cultural barriers to economic regeneration and how these relate to the ‘institutional tissue’ of particular regions and localities (Hudson, 1994).