Building Local Communities: Place-Shaping as Nation-Building

Journal for Local Self-Government, Vol. 8, No 1, pp. 23-33, 2010

21 Pages Posted: 3 Mar 2010

See all articles by Steven Van de Walle

Steven Van de Walle

KU Leuven - Department of Political Science; Erasmus University Rotterdam - Department of Public Administration

Date Written: March 2, 2010

Abstract

The Lyons Inquiry into Local Government has introduced the English local government community to the concept of ‘place-shaping’. Place-shaping refers to the new role for local governments in promoting the well-being of communities and citizens. The processes of place-shaping are remarkably similar to the processes of nation-building. This paper uses Stein Rokkan’s thinking on nation-building in Western Europe to analyse place-shaping. It focuses on the penetration and standardisation processes and underlines the importance of integrating peripheries, defining boundaries, and creating identities. In essence, it is argued that place-shaping is really about the repolitisation of English local authorities.

Keywords: nation-building, local identity, community building, place-shaping, English local government

JEL Classification: H7, D73

Suggested Citation

Van de Walle, Steven and Van de Walle, Steven, Building Local Communities: Place-Shaping as Nation-Building (March 2, 2010). Journal for Local Self-Government, Vol. 8, No 1, pp. 23-33, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1562427

Steven Van de Walle (Contact Author)

Erasmus University Rotterdam - Department of Public Administration ( email )

3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands
0031 10 408 2518 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.stevenvandewalle.eu

KU Leuven - Department of Political Science ( email )

Public Management Institute
Van Evenstraat 2A
B-3000 Leuven
Belgium
+32 16 323614 (Phone)
+32 16 323611 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.publicmanagementinstitute.be

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
140
Abstract Views
1,126
Rank
372,989
PlumX Metrics