Explaining Urban Regimes

Keith Dowding

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2001, vol. 25, issue 1, 7-19

Abstract: This article examines the history of the use of regimes in urban politics. It argues the highlight is Stone's Regime politics because he uses the concept of regime to answer a specific problem – why did politicians with different electoral bases of support create similar governing coalitions? Stone's answer acknowledges the need for the ‘capacity to act’ within structures of power. Broadening the account to different types of regime makes analysis more descriptive and less explanatory. But rather than dismissing broader accounts, it is better to unpick the components underlying different regime forms to understand the capacity to act in different contexts. Here we find that factors which go into explaining collective action provide the foundations for regime analysis. Cet article étudie, dans une perspective historique, l'application du concept de ‘régime’ en politique urbaine. Il présente Regime politics de Stone comme l'ouvrage‐clé, son auteur employant le concept de régime pour résoudre un problème particulier – pourquoi les politiciens issus de bases électorales différentes créent‐ils, pour diriger, des coalitions similaires? La réponse de Stone admet la nécessité de la ‘capacité d'agir' au sein des structures de pouvoir. Élargir le propos à divers types de régime rend l'analyse plus descriptive, quoique moins explicative. Toutefois, plutôt que d'écarter une généralisation, il vaut mieux négliger les éléments qui sous‐tendent diverses formes de gouvernement afin d'appréhender la capacité d'agir dans des contextes variés. C'est ainsi que l'on peut identifier des facteurs qui, tout en entrant dans l'explication de l'action collective, fournissent les bases pour une analyse des régimes.

Date: 2001
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