Economic agencies project: summary of key findings

(1) Nationalism or regionalism entails the reconciliation of the past with the perceived contemporary national or regional interest. Important national and regional institutions such as economic development agencies contribute to this process through their published rhetoric and their understanding of national or regional problems, advantages and interests. But, particularly within a national context, the specific use of national identity by these agencies is often shaped by the intended audience: either 'external' (e.g. overseas investors or consumers) or 'internal' (concerned organisations and individuals within the nation).

(2) The external mobilisation of national identity is also shaped by the strength and nature of 'identity resources': the extent to which nations and their associated qualities (whether real or imagined) are known to those beyond the nation, and the dominant imagery associated with a given nation. This can also lead to the differential mobilisation of identity across different economic sectors. For example, the external dominance of a rural/Highland image of Scotland means that national identity can be more straightforwardly mobilised in some areas (tourism, textiles, food and drink) than in others (high-tech).

(3) The reconciliation of the past with perceived contemporary needs and interests is a necessary objective for key economic agents in Scotland and Wales, who favour the presentation of a national identity appropriate to the economic context of the 21st century. This reconciliation is achieved through four processes which derive from economic agents' perceptions of their nation's economic attributes, and their normative beliefs regarding the qualities necessary for economic success:

• Reiteration: a historically positive feature of national identity is mobilised for economic purposes within a contemporary context (e.g. Scottish education)

• Recapture: an aspiration to recover historically positive features of national identity now regarded as problematic (e.g. Scottish entrepreneurship)

• Reinterpretation: historically negative factors are presented as contemporary advantages or as largely neutral (e.g. the Welsh language or Scotland's geographical peripherality)

• Repudiation: the omission from contemporary constructions of identity of negative features that are not suitable for reinterpretation (e.g. the 'industrial legacy' in Scotland and Wales)

It is possible for the same feature of national identity to be subject to a different process depending on whether it is mobilised externally or internally.

(4) Notwithstanding the widespread ambition to present a predominantly contemporary identity, there is a widespread recognition of the heterogeneity of national identity and hence the need to adopt, or at least tolerate, plurality in the mobilisation of this identity. The notion that nations can be 'branded' in a uniform manner is therefore very much a minority opinion.

(5) Regions which lack any claim to 'national' status generally have lower levels of cultural and institutional capital: they have fewer identity resources to mobilise for economic ends, and thus territorial identity will be less central to the economic agenda than is the case in national territories. This is true of the two English regions studied: the North-East and the South-East. In these regions, the economic mobilisation of identity based upon historical, cultural or institutional features is not prominent. The South East in particular lacks any such 'raw material' and so there is no attempt to mobilise identity in this way, but nor is there much evidence in the North East of the region's comparatively strong (in English terms) identity being used as a promotional device.

(6) Yet there are at least some respects in which economic agencies in these English regions reflect and mobilise regional distinctiveness and identity. They 'regionalise' common contemporary economic issues in that, despite a degree of uniformity in their strategies and rhetoric, they often present problems and advantages as if they were quite particular to their regions. Thus in reflecting ubiquitous concerns they may still do so through a regional or national lens. Hence themes that are in fact universal are regionalised and distinctiveness is constructed using the raw material of identity that is perceived to be available. Economic agents also reflect their region's broader status as either economic 'problem' or 'core'. In this sense, economic attributes could be seen as central to the identities of these English regions, and offering a potential basis for a strengthening of such identities in the future (albeit from a relatively weak base).

(7) The manner in which constitutional change is relevant to the economic agencies and their mobilisation of identity varies between the national and regional territories. Although the Scottish and Welsh agencies now operate within a post-devolution context, there is no strong evidence that devolution has resulted in an increased use of 'national vocabulary' by these agencies. However, devolution was viewed by some as having enhanced the 'Scottishness/Welshness' of these agencies and other institutions. Another common perception is that devolution as an event has raised national profile, and, especially in Wales, may have bolstered national image and confidence, which then has positive repercussions for economic development. In the two English regions, the status of the RDAs is very much that they contribute to an institutional strengthening at the regional level in England, which could be seen as a potential precursor to political devolution in the longer term. But, given the recent referendum result in the North-East, this now seems a distant prospect.

Further reading:

Bond, R., D. McCrone and A. Brown (2003) 'National Identity and Economic Development: Reiteration, Recapture, Reinterpretation, and Repudiation', Nations and Nationalism, 9 (3): 371-391.

Bond, R. and D. McCrone (2004) 'The Growth of English Regionalism? Institutions and Identity', Regional and Federal Studies, 14 (1): 1-25.  

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