Regions and the wealth of the world

1
Regions and the wealth of the world

• Daniel Latouche,
• Center for Urban, Culture and Social Studies,
• National Institute for Scientific Research,
  Montréal
• CPMR-UNDP Scientific Council ,  Globalization
  and Territorial Development , 3 and 4 December
  2007, Lisbon

2
Perspective

• In the 1990s, SG of the Groupe de Lisbonne with
  Riccardo Petrella
• Published Limits to competition translated in
  six languages, but a different reception in
  different regions
• Academic for a very long time enough to learn
• Ideas come and gothey never die they
  reincarnate themselves
• This is at least the third time around for the
  idea of Region
• We have to understand the reasons for this recent
  come-back

3
Perspective (2)

• Work as a practicionner, i.e. a consultant,
  always on the look-out for a good theory
• For the Canadian International Development Agency
  
• But also for the ADB, the UNDP, the OECD
• Africa Morocco, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana,
  Senegal, Niger, Benin
• First Governance, then Decentralization, Local
  Economic Initiatives, Regional Development
• The perspective is clearly that of North America

4
Putting all this together makes for

1. A certain obsession with identifying the simplest
   questions available rather than finding ideal
   solutions.
2. A preoccupation with what works and with how to
   make work better.
3. A high dose of scepticism vis-à-vis any paradigm
   which gets to be too comfortable.

5
What questions should we ask ?

• Question 1 Why are Regions suddenly so important
  ?
• Question 2 Are Regions a promissing level to
  consolidate development in the global era ?
• Question 3 What do Regions bring to North- South
  Cooperation ?
• Question 4 What could go wrong with the regional
  paradigm ?

6
Question 1 Regions are in ! Why ?

• We dont really knowand François Perroux is no
  longer here to tell us. Humility.
• Perhaps
• Exhaustion of the  Think globally, act
  locally . Sans aucun doute.
• The only territorial level left to explore ? The
  last frontier syndrome ?
• Governance seems to work better at the regional
  level
• But the important thing is what we do with the
  concept .. while it lasts

7
Question 1

• What about Africa ?
• Except for South Africa, the continent has yet to
  embark on a regional course
• Nigeria is the exception of course
• Morocco, Mali, Ghana, Sénégal are clearly heading
  this way
• There are costs, difficulties and dangers
• National unity
• Clientelism
• Localist ideologies
• Highjacking of rare ressources

8
Question 1

• Mutilateral donors can make a difference
• The ADB
• The EU
• The WB ??
• But multilateral organizations are made up
  of.countries
• The search for continental unity can be an issue.
  In Africa there are Regions (NEPAD) and regions.
  A problem or an opportunity ?

9
Question 2Are Regions a promissing level for
development purposes

• The answer is yes but empirical proof is rare
• Need to work at evaluation in a comparative
  perspective
• Proximity is no substitute for results.
• What are the results of building better regions
• Better public policies, more people oriented
• More economic development, better roads, mobility
• More innovation
• More sustainability
• Less inequities, inequalities

10
Question 2

• While we wait for a critical evaluation, we can
  work at improving the odds
• Need knowledge, information, less celebration
• Need South-South transfer of information Mali
  needs to know about Brazil
• Need to realize that  Regional economic
  development policies  dont just happen. They
  are constructedand their record is not that
  great.
• Need to realize that there is little  natural 
  or  given  in regions. They are political
  construction, even ethnocultural regions

11
Question 2

• Regions are imperfect creatures. Dont wait for
  the perfect decentralization process.
• Beware of the tyranny of sequencing
• To create Regions is to create  power  on
  credit. It needs to be used to be consolidated.
• There are no  paper-tiger  regions !
• Regions are not large  arrondissements . They
  need real identities and not just numbers.

12
Question 3What do Regions bring to North South
Cooperation ?

• On paper, regions can provided added value more
  money, more experience, better know-how, more
  proximity in short there is nothing like Region
  to Region Cooperation
• The reality is more limited
• Regions are often more bureaucratic, more
  dispersed and fragmented, less open, less
  pertinent and smaller
• Aid from regions can often make the difference
  and target  forgotten needs 
• Aid from regions has to be brought under the
  Paris Declaration umbrella but how ?

13
Question 3

• There is much talk of bringing coherence and
  synergy to aid and cooperation from regions who
  can be against coherence
• Make sure regions in the South will actually gain
  from this increased coherence
• Regional development and Regions in the South are
  perhaps the way of the future, but they need
  help
• Building regions that work is difficult, more so
  than inefficient national governments

14
Question 3

• Regions in the South need to understand (and they
  do) why Regions in the North are getting on the
  Cooperation bandwagon
• Often want to confirm their place on their own
  political chessboard
• Often a way to access private actors or promote
  heir own interest
• Electoral considerations
• Diasporas have economic clout
• We all know about immigration considerations

15
Question 4What could go wrong with the regional
paradigm

• The worst-case scenario is for the paradigm to
  stay around for too long
• Little chance as the  Regional/Local/Small-is-bea
  utiful/ Bottom-up/Urban/Decentralized/
  Endogeneous (Its the same family) is already
  under question
• Long gone are the days when Remy Prudhomme was
  the only one to suggest that decentralization was
  not the solution to everything

16
Question 4

• By now, we know that
• All territories are not created equal.
• The center is not only holding, but doing better
  than expectedthe peripheries are likely to
  remain just thatperipheries
• Proximity rarely makes people or institutions
  more intelligent or richer
• There is suspicion that Jane Jacobs, prophet of
  City Life, might have had it all wrong
• Cities are not engines of growth
• Rich countries make cities rich and not the
  reverse

17
Question 4

• How to bring politics into regional life is a
  difficult task, the most difficult one
•  Real  politics, with parties, elections,
  deals, promisses, leaders, opposition.
• Regional governance is no substitute for regional
  governments
• What kind of  institutions  at the local level
  the issue of corruption, trust
•  If you cant stand the political heat, get out
  of the regional kitchen 

18
Obregado