Abstract
This paper develops a theoretical framework and rationale for an alternative post-structuralist approach to assessing economic development strategies. This research applies Deleuzian philosophical concepts in order to address the limitations of current assessment methodologies. The paper explores the history of and the reasons for the perceived failure of the Auckland Regional Economic Development Strategy (AREDS). This perceived failure led to the total de-territorialsiation of the organisation tasked with implementing the strategy. Deleuzian spatial concepts, such as flows, plateaus, rhizomes and lines of flight, are employed to develop metaphorical tools for assessing economic development strategies, initiatives and programmes. The framework developed is tested against AREDS. The paper concludes that such strategies and local initiatives should be assessed based on performance predicated on becoming instead of performance-measured outcomes.
Highlights
Economic development strategies, such as the Auckland Regional Economic Development Strategy (AREDS), usually define goals and objectives that cannot be adequately measured and what can be measured often does not reflect the success or failure of the strategy
This section establishes a set of criteria that may assist in developing a performance based assessment framework for local economic development programmes or initiatives
The political will to “make it happen” was lacking as exemplified by the failure for the region to present a unified proposal to Wellington for future governance
Summary
Economic development strategies, such as the Auckland Regional Economic Development Strategy (AREDS), usually define goals and objectives that cannot be adequately measured and what can be measured often does not reflect the success or failure of the strategy. Innovative action orientated tools predicated on becoming need to be developed that consider the relationship between the drivers of new economic activity with the strategies and initiatives implemented by the practitioner. For Deleuze, empiricism of pragmatic experience is more important than a positivistic empiricism of quantitative measurements This enables Deleuze to test ideas with no preconceived conclusions and challenges readers to think and experiment because Deleuzian theory maintains that becoming is practicably combinable A practitioner should view economic development and the economy as a network of diverse and multiple forces interacting with each other, expressed as lines of flight* or assemblages* that are constantly being reterritorialised* In this sense “an assemblage of practices, relations, products and institutions, which do not add up to one single whole. The value of performance-based criteria will be further refined and developed below
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