Path Creation with Politics of Scale in the Regional Development: A Case Study of Huizhou City

Abstract

In recent years,more scholars have taken the initiative to review the path dependence from the perspective of institutionalization.Attention has been paid on the possibility of path creation,which is characterized by real-time influence and mindful deviation.However,most of the behavioral researches remain in the level of theoretical discussion and model specification.This article takes Huizhou City,China as an example to empirically analyze the path dependence and path creation in the regional development since the reform and openning-yp which began in 1979.It reveals that there is path creation in Chinese regional development,and politics of scale is an important strategy to realize it.The path creation of Huizhou,which is in the Zhujiang River Delta,is actually a trial of local globalization—the scalar jumping from locality(rimland of the Zhujiang River Delta) to global(core area of the Zhujiang River Delta).In the process of regional politics of scale,the local government,which positively organizes locality to participate in politics of scale,is the active subject dominating the politics of scale,while the central government is the powerful third party in the politics of scale,holding the absolute controlling power of scalar system.With the construction of regional scalar fix,the core area of the Zhujiang River Delta forms stable regional division of labor system by the structural power of self-reinforcing.As a peripheral locality,Huizhou made use of"big project investment promotion"and "state-owned enterprise reform and investment promotion"for several times to mobilize large multinational enterprises,the news media and other outside groups to establish external alliance,so as to scale up and finally enter the core area.The case analysis of Huizhou in this article explains the dynamic operation system of"path creation",and theorizes the phenomenon of rimland breaking the unbalanced development to the realization of path creation with politics of scale by the locality.At the same time,it provides theoretical reference and advices for the rimland to break the unbalanced development status,indicating that local globalization is the key for the rimland to scale up,and the rimland should position the locality in a global perspective and actively fight for the support from a third party to build the locality-global connection.