The democratic deficit of the "new regionalism"

Abstract

Emerging in the 1990s, the concept of new regionalism focuses on the achievement of area-wide metropolitan governance through networks of voluntary cooperation, rather than via institutional consolidation (‘old regionalism’). New regionalism concentrates on area-wide governance capacity flowing from intergovernmental agreements and policy-oriented networks that may involve non-governmental actors, as well as non-governmental and private actors. With its emphasis on flexibility and public-private partnerships, the new regionalist route towards area-wide governance has often been accused of eroding the democratic anchorage of metropolitan policies and politics. This panel will focus on this allegation. The objectives are (1) to specify the theoretical arguments in this debate, and (2) to discuss case studies that focus on the link between democratic institutions and new regionalist governance arrangements in various empirical settings. Abstracts of proposed papers should be submitted to the panel chair by the 1st of March 2005. Paper proposals should be sent to the panel chair.

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