The political stakes of regions
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Yishai Blank
Abstract
Regionalism is experiencing a global resurgence as countries grapple with issues such as coordination problems, economic inequality, racial tensions, and environmental degradation. Nations are exploring various regional entities as potential solutions to these challenges. However, despite the growing prominence of regions, they remain undertheorized. While extensive research has been conducted on national and local governments, regions have often been treated as either state-like or locality-like, or as ad-hoc remedies for the limitations of both. This article seeks to complicate this perspective and present the initial stages of a theory of regions. By examining the case study of the Cities’ Union in Israel and tracing its historical origins and legal evolution into multipurpose regional clusters, the article uncovers valuable theoretical insights about regions. First, it argues that just as “the local” and “the national” mutually shape one another, “the local” and “the regional” too are interdependent concepts, each definition relying on the other. The existence of a third concept—the regional—is crucial, making this a conceptual triad rather than a dyad. Second, the article highlights that legal institutions such as interlocal cooperations and special-purpose governments (SPGs) are not inherently local or regional but can be perceived as either depending on historical and political contingencies. The conceptualization and concrete manifestations of local and regional forms are subject to political concerns and ideological commitments, extending beyond mere technical or functional considerations. Lastly, the article reflects on the unique characteristics of regional forms that make them legally, socially, geographically, and economically nimbler and more adaptable than their national and local counterparts.
© 2023 by Theoretical Inquiries in Law
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Regionalisms: Shifting Scales Between Cities and States
- Introduction
- Seeing like a region
- The political stakes of regions
- Cities in a world of regions – Remarks from an international law perspective
- Megalopolis bound?
- Can micropolitan areas bridge the urban-rural divide?
- The democratic problems with Washington as the capital
- The science of urban regions: Public-science-community partnerships as a new mode of regional governance?
- Communities of competitors: Toward leveraging the region’s contradictions
- Regionalism as a mode of inclusive citizenship in divided societies
- A typology of the localism-regionalism nexus
- Shadow regionalism in immigration enforcement during COVID-19
- National priority regions (1971–2022): Redistribution, development and settlement
- The challenge of regionalist institutions without regionalist politics
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Regionalisms: Shifting Scales Between Cities and States
- Introduction
- Seeing like a region
- The political stakes of regions
- Cities in a world of regions – Remarks from an international law perspective
- Megalopolis bound?
- Can micropolitan areas bridge the urban-rural divide?
- The democratic problems with Washington as the capital
- The science of urban regions: Public-science-community partnerships as a new mode of regional governance?
- Communities of competitors: Toward leveraging the region’s contradictions
- Regionalism as a mode of inclusive citizenship in divided societies
- A typology of the localism-regionalism nexus
- Shadow regionalism in immigration enforcement during COVID-19
- National priority regions (1971–2022): Redistribution, development and settlement
- The challenge of regionalist institutions without regionalist politics
