Different Seeds in the Same Plot? Competing Models of Capitalism and the Incomplete Contracts of Partnership Design

In: Public administration: an international quarterly, Band 79, Heft 2, S. 337-359

Abstract

This article explains the differing nature of UK government & European Commission approaches to partnership, drawing on the "competing models of capitalism" debate. Comparative studies have typically considered the impact of the same institutional arrangements across different territories -- the "study of identical seeds sown in different plots" (Putnam 1993, p. 7). However, this article is concerned with the study of different seeds sown in the same small plot: an area within the city of Sheffield. The different approaches to partnership enshrined in UK & EU regeneration program documents structure different prospective outcomes. However, regeneration program requirements must be understood as "incomplete contracts" &, as such, policy implementers play a key role in shaping policy outcomes. 27 References. Adapted from the source document.