Dr Jekyl, Mr H(i)de: the contrasting face of elites at interview

Abstract

Local elites distribute their knowledge very differently to foreign or local researchers. Paradoxically, foreigners are given more information as they easily generate confidence in local elites. However, foreign researchers are not really the best people to understand and use such information most effectively, because they are neither natives of the place and nor do they completely understand the local context. It seems that those who could best understand are given the least, and those who can understand the least are given the most. This has important methodological implications for researchers studying urban policy-making. First, when devising strategies for approaching and interviewing local political elites, they have to be fully aware of their own position. Second, gender factors matter, but it seems that it becomes secondary to other positional factors, like being a local or foreign resarcher, or some institutional factors. Both factors tend to best explain the different range of behaviour of local elites