To what extent do institutions matter for local and regional development?

The question of the role played by institutions in regional and local development has taken a growing prevalence in recent years (Tomaney,Pike,2009), which has come as a result of extended criticism of the ‘one-size fits all’ development policy, which has yielded mixed results on a global scale (Rodriguez-Pose,2013). The debate surrounding the role played by institutions is broad, with a plethora of themes and routes for exploration. Due to the confines of this paper, the premise will be asserted that institutions do matter for local and regional development, with a deeper focus on how institutions effectively impact upon the success of development policy. In addition, it will be questioned how institutions can be effective and improved. Due to the lack of empirical and quantitative analysis of the roles played by institutions, case studies will be used to exemplify the important role played by institutions in regional development. Through analysis of theoretical debate and real-world examples, this paper will assert that institutions do matter for regional development, as they shape the variegation of process and outcomes of governance (Pike,Tomaney,2009). The structure of the paper is outlined in Figure 1 (below): 1. Definitions
Due to the theoretical debate surrounding the role of institutions being at an embryonic stage (Tomaney,2013), there is a lack of consensus of an assumed definition for what constitutes an institution. North’s definition of institutions being “the rules of the game in a society” (North,1990,p.477) provides an abstract description of an institution, however it is useful in understanding how institutions shape how society functions. This limits the role of institutions to basic formal institutions (Rodriguez-Pose,2013), such as: “constitutions, laws, charters, bylaws and regulations” (Rodriguez-Pose,2013,p.1038). However, there is a further element to the discourse surrounding institutions and that is the important role of informal

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