Policy Review Section
本期政策评论栏目包含两篇文章：一篇分析英格兰地方政府审查的混乱状态及单一制改革困境；另一篇通过北欧海事产业比较，主张传统工业区应强化现有产业集群而非依赖外来投资实现多元化。
In this issue of the Policy Review Section, Steve Leach of the Institute of Local Government Studies, University of Birmingham, reviews the confused state of the local government review which is currently being undertaken within England. The present position at the end of the first review of 10 county areas has been complicated by the Government referring back three of the Local Government Commission's proposals and by revised government guidance to the Commission giving a clear steer to the establishment of unitary authorities. This guidance was overturned in January 1994 by a judicial review. Leach critically examines the dilemma the Commission faces in pursuing further its own ‘pro-unitary status’ bias through an analysis of the arrangements which would be necessary to provide strategic services such as transport and land use planning in a unitary system. In the second article, John Tomaney of the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, examines the issue of which are the most appropriate economic development strategies for a traditional industrial region such as the North East of England. Based on a comparative study of the maritime industries of Norway and Denmark, he argues that attention should be given to strengthening and developing existing industrial clusters rather than focusing on the ‘classic’ regional policy response of maximum diversification through inward investment. He argues that the latter approach ignores the fact that, without concentrations of industrial activity, a region cannot be expected to develop the sort of competitive advantages derived by Britain's industrial regions in the past.