Regional development agencies in the United Kingdom: Labour's flagship sailing at half-mast?
This article applies a modelling approach to examine the establishment of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in England. RDAs are an important part of New Labour's policy programme for regional economic development, and their implementation requires the involvement of actors at both central and local government levels. The three phases of negotiations that took place between these actors are studied using alternative models of collective decision-making, including a cooperative exchange model and a non-cooperative conflict model. Data on the key elements of the decision-making process - including the issues discussed during the negotiations, the actors' policy positions and capabilities, and the levels of salience they attached to the issues - were collected systematically and form the basis of the analysis. Application of the models allows inferences to be drawn regarding the nature of the decision-making process that took place prior to the policy outcomes. These analyses are supported by the estimates of the utility gains and losses experienced by the actors as a result of the policy outcomes that were realized. The results demonstrate that Labour has pursued a largely consensual approach based on exchange and log-rolling.