Local Governance, Development and Innovation : Rebuilding Sustainable Local Economies in Ireland

Local governance systems across the developed world have been transformed over the course of the last 35 years. Ireland is a relative latecomer and until recently the politicocultural norms of the state have meant that local governance reform initiatives have tended to be piecemeal and episodic. However the 2008 financial crisis and the Irish state?s response have provided both an impetus and framework for reform of Ireland?s sub-national governance and economic development systems. There has been little academic investigation of these significant reforms and the changes needed in our governance structures, institutions and political culture that might make them more fit for the purpose of building sustainable and resilient local economies. In this book, Irish academics, public officials and civil society representatives examine the issues facing, and likely to face, the reformed Irish local governance system. They highlight the major challenges posed to our forms of local governance and the transformations required if Ireland is to facilitate the development of sustainable local economies.