A comparative framework: how broadly applicable is a 'rigorous' critical junctures framework?

The paper tests Hogan and Doyle's (2007, 2008) framework for examining critical junctures. This framework sought to incorporate the concept of ideational change in understanding critical junctures. Until its development, frameworks utilized in identifying critical junctures were subjective, seeking only to identify crisis, and subsequent policy changes, arguing that one invariably led to the other, as both occurred around the same time. Hogan and Doyle (2007, 2008) hypothesized ideational change as an intermediating variable in their framework, determining if, and when, a crisis leads to radical policy change. Here we test this framework on cases similar to, but different from, those employed in developing the exemplar. This will enable us determine whether the framework's relegation of ideational change to a condition of crisis holds, or, if ideational change has more importance than is ascribed to it by this framework. This will also enable us determined if the framework itself is robust, and fit for the purposes it was designed to perform — identifying the nature of policy change

The national state as mediator of regional development outcomes in a global era - A comparative analysis from the UK and Norway

In recent years, commentators have downplayed the role of the national state in shaping regional economic development. In particular it has been argued that globalization processes are undermining the national level as a container of economic regulation and action. This has been accompanied by a celebration of the regional level as a site for constructing competitive advantage, amid growing evidence of increased sub- national economic agglomeration. This article contests this view, arguing that in the current era the state remains a key actor in both mediating the effects of global economic integration and shaping the trajectories of regional economies. The argument is illustrated through a comparative analysis of oil-based regional economic developments in the UK and Norway. The case studies highlight the contrasting role played by the national state in the two countries and the varied spatial outcomes and prospects that arise as a result