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

In the 1990’s, 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 go…they 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

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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

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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.

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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 ?

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We don’t really know…and 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

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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

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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 ?

Daniel Latouche Lisbonne December 2007 8

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

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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 » don’t just happen. They are constructed…and 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

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• Regions are imperfect creatures. Don’t 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.

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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 ?

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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

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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

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The worst-case scenario is for the paradigm to stay around for too long◦ Little chance as the « Regional/Local/Small-is-beautiful/

Bottom-up/Urban/Decentralized/ Endogeneous » (It’s the same family) is already under question

Long gone are the days when Remy Prud’homme was the only one to suggest that decentralization was not the solution to everything

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By now, we know that: All territories are not created equal. The center is not only holding, but doing better than

expected;the peripheries are likely to remain just that…peripheries

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

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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 can’t stand the political heat, get out of the regional kitchen »

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