Devolution, State Personnel, and the Production of New Territories of Governance in the United Kingdom

Abstract

As a result of the creation of a Scottish Parliament, Welsh and Northern Irish Assemblies, and the devolution of power to various regional bodies in England, there has been a substantial territorial refocusing of governance within the United Kingdom. Much has been written in the social and political sciences concerning this change, especially with regard to the formation of new institutions of governance. Less is known concerning the connections between state personnel and this institutional and territorial transformation. In this paper we seek to remedy this deficiency. Drawing on empirical evidence from the English regions, we suggest that devolution is shaped by, and also shapes, the actions and strategies of a variety of state personnel in the different territories. Developing the idea of the state as a ‘peopled organisation’, we thus emphasise the significance of state personnel in actively producing the United Kingdom's new territories and scales of governance. This allows for an examination of the ways in which state personnel, working within different territorial branches and scales of the state, are able to accommodate, revise, or resist broader political