Regional Industrial Policy in Norway and Spain

Abstract

This chapter discusses the connection between changing ideas for regional policy formulation in Norway and Spain taking on a “scalar politics” framework. The analysis demonstrates that regional industrial policies are rooted in processes of downscaling in Norway and upscaling in Spain, while rescaling of regional policy away from being primarily a nationally controlled project is a universal concern. Another trend is that the policy instruments have become more homogeneous across communities and regions over the years. Thus, it seems that the Fordism and post-Fordism left more scope for contextual policies than the recent phase of “contextualism”.