Public-private partnership and the politics of economic regeneration in Sheffield c.1985-1991.

The thesis examines the emergence and operation of public-private
partnership for economic regeneration in Sheffield since c1985. The
argument advanced is that changes in approach to economic policy
over this period were part of a process of economic and political
restructuring and fragmentation in the local state. The original
contribution of this research is that it offers a detailed insight
into one aspect of this process - the development of local economic
policy that drew on a range of institutional and individual actors,
producing both formal and informal mechanisms for articulating this
approach. The co-operative framework that emerged was one which
allowed the local authority a key position in the mediation of local
interests, but that also magnified business input into local
economic policy. This framework produced a politics that was about
how the partners established co-operation, sought to resolve
conflicts, and develop a consensus package for the city's
regeneration.
Acknowledging the emergence of a system of fragmented government
suggests the need to tie together some general theoretical insights
about the process of restructuring with the experience of change in
particular places. Several perspectives are considered, but the thesis focuses on local corporatism, growth coalition and regime
theory. The thesis suggests that despite some limitations,
coalition and regime theory are useful for developing our
understanding of partnership in Sheffield.
The thesis is divided into two main sections. Firstly, it discusses
some theoretical and interpretive issues within the literature on
local government restructuring. Secondly, the thesis analyses the
empirical investigation into the development and operation of the
partnership in what was its formative stage. It considers why cooperation developed around the issue of economic regeneration, how
such co-operation worked in practice, and the degree to which it
represented a realignment in the structures and mechanisms for
coping with urban economic change.