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The measurement of regional competitiveness is an important and complex issue. Previous research has mostly considered national economies. However, indicators and measures identified at the national level may not apply well to regions. This paper contributes to knowledge by providing an analytical narrative of how the concept of the measurement of competitiveness has developed over time in Northern Ireland. The various stages in the development of measurements are critically evaluated. The region's chronic competitiveness shortfall is identified and possible explanations are indicated. The conclusions assess the most recent position regarding competitiveness measurement alongside a review of future research needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we define regional economic development as a political-geographical problem using a theoretical logic drawn from the writings of Antonio Gramsci on hegemony and the Italian questione meridionale (southern question). This logic is then used in a discussion of regional industrial policy in Northern Ireland between 1945 and 1972. A major claim is that relative levels of regional economic development are not independent of politics, nor do they follow some natural economic order; they are, instead, critically dependent on the practical need of states for popular legitimation of economic activities and for the political-social order represented by a particular government or political party. The paper ends with a brief comparison of the approach with alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability of cross-border peacebuilding initiatives is increasingly pertinent in a context of reduced public funding (national and European), yet the potential contribution to be made to this from private sector cooperation remains under-explored. This paper brings together quantitative data on cross-border trade with qualitative evidence from business leaders in the Irish border region in order to examine the nature of cross-border cooperation within the private sector and its possible connections to peacebuilding. This evidence is analysed in the light of three theses: spillover, contact and business-based peacebuilding. The first part of this paper assesses the conditions for cross-border business cooperation in Ireland, including funding support for economic development, European integration, and (post-Agreement) institutional change. The second part examines the particular contributions made by the private sector to peace, centring upon consciously non-political motivations (such as pragmatism and profit), networking and leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Economic Development (1958) remains a document associated with T.K. Whitaker’s role in Ireland’s shift away from protectionist economics. Whatever the report’s exact role in changing the direction of Irish economic strategy, the reputation of Economic Development greatly exceeds that of An Economic Survey of Northern Ireland (1957), which was a report authored by Isles and Cuthbert, two Belfast-based academics. The economic analysis contained within both reports/strategy documents along with their respective fates forms the focus of this paper. The relative failure to implement the analysis set out by Isles and Cuthbert, as well as its relative obscurity, rests on a range of factors. Perceptions of the acuteness of the respective economic problems, issues of authorship, the close interaction between political leadership and major industries/firms in Northern Ireland and the range of actionable policy prescriptions presented in a report are all important in explaining the contemporary and subsequent receptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an account of some of the written and oral evidence presented to the Opsahl Commission established to enquire into possible ways forward for Northern Ireland. It examines issues about social policy raised by the contributors to the Commission, in particular in the areas of poverty and exclusion, children and young people, the role of women, community development and the voluntary sector, and the position of minority groups. Lastly, it relates these crucial aspects of social policy to concepts of citizenship in the context of the future for Northern Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the question of how social well-being, or quality of life, in Northern Ireland has changed through time from 1958 to 1998. After reviewing major economic trends and governmental policy affecting the region, we develop an overall measure of quality of life based on previous research into social well-being in Northern Ireland. We find that the 'Troubles' clearly impact the quality of life in Northern Ireland but not necessarily as broadly as one might suspect. The majority of the sixteen underlying indicators used for creating a measure of social well-being remain largely unaffected by the conflict and closely track increases in overall United Kingdom Gross Domestic Product. The remaining five measures of social well-being are significantly impacted by the conflict. The resulting measures of social well-being and some suggested uses for future research are then presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at urban regeneration in Belfast as a stage on which the interaction between different structural dynamics (political, economic and cultural) is manifested in the city. It discusses how contested ideas of ‘space’, ‘place’ and ‘territory’ frame the ways in which Belfast has changed over recent years and asks if regeneration itself has the potential to transform the dynamic of deep-rooted ethno-national divisions. The research question is explored through a case study of proposed urban regeneration in north Belfast. It is found that, while there is evidence of transition to less exclusivistic attitudes in leisure and work spaces, asymmetrical conflict over residential space persists in ways which reproduce deep-rooted political and cultural patterns of territorial fixity and division. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The title embodies the belief, expressed in 2000 by Northern Ireland's Economic Development Minister, Sir Reg Empey, that innovation is the 'golden thread' that must run through its economy and policy for the hitherto troubled part of the UK to recover its historic economic dynamism. The paper reports a study of Northern Ireland's innovation performance in light of comparative data and through the lens of the regional innovation systems approach to analysis and strategy. It is shown that business expenditure on innovation inputs like R&D has risen, but that a long 'tail' of innovation under-achievers remains evident. Three categories of firm are shown to be innovative and these are swiftly developing systemic interaction with a support infrastructure led by venture capital that is agile in meeting growth requirements of indigenous innovators, thereby setting a standard that public support agencies are being urged to emulate in a new strategic approach to regional innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Looking at the post-War years, this paper considers how investment in education developed using different models and following different trajectories in Ireland and Northern Ireland. The result has been a very different impact on economic growth: increasing human capital made a major contribution to growth in Ireland since 1960, while in Northern Ireland the failure to make adequate investment in education is reflected in a continuing poor economic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study emphasizes the dynamism of the enterprise approach in manufacturing geography and the elusive quality of the milieu concept. It identifies the facilitating and restraining conditioning elements of the changing milieu of a large shipbuilding firm which, form 1950 to 1964, the period analyzed, comprised a major though rapidly declining part of the export base of Northern Ireland. The paper suggests that the local region provided a relatively permissive milieu for the firm, though it offered few opportunities for diversification. Competitive difficulties that arose during the period came mainly from the changing international milieu, especially movements in the composition of world demand and the appearance of Japanese suppliers. These difficulties were suggested in part to reflect the condition of the firm's internal resources, but they were increasingly assigned to the state of its national milieu. Also outlined are some of the firm's adoptive and adaptive features and the form of its adverse impact, including through multiplier effects, on the development of the local region.

The intertwining of economic crises and political violence has been an ongoing narrative for Northern Ireland over the past four decades. However, with the end of ‘The Troubles’ and the transition to what has been termed a ‘post-conflict’ society (i.e. one in which the violence has largely ceased but its legacy remains), what is an appropriate agenda for economic development? To this end, we consider the current context in Northern Ireland in terms of cohesion, diversity and inclusion, and the implications therein of present policies. The geography of creative individuals within Northern Ireland is reviewed, and found to be particularly polarized within Belfast. That the highest areas of present deprivation are typically found in those most affected by past conflict suggests failures of policy since the ‘Good Friday’ Agreement of 1998. If economic growth, tolerance and diversity are linked, then all stakeholders must address these issues. Northern Ireland should neither be seen as a ‘normal’ lagging region nor one into which a standard neo-liberal development agenda can be transplanted free of context. At present, social cohesion appears to be regarded as an outcome of economic prosperity rather than as a factor that might actually drive it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the methodology and results of an experimental Composite Economic Index developed by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). The aim of the Index is to provide a short term measure of the performance of the NI economy using a mainly output based approach. It combines existing official statistics series from the Index of Services, Index of Production, Index of Construction, Agriculture and public sector employee jobs based on their relative share of annual GVA to provide a chain-linked measure of total quarterly economic activity for NI. The index is not a comprehensive measure of quarterly Gross Domestic Product as there are no income and expenditure components. However the composite methodology has been applied to the equivalent UK series and the results correspond well with the UK GDP series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement ended the political violence in Northern Ireland, yet uncertainties remain about the post conflict phase of the fragile social structures that emerged. International donor agencies have provided economic assistance to encourage peacebuilding in post conflict societies such as Northern Ireland and the Border Area. This paper examines the role and effectiveness of the European Union's Peace and Reconciliation Fund through reviewing the political perceptions of senior Irish civil servants, funding agency community development officers, and local community leaders in Derry, Dublin, and along both sides of the Irish Border. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent wears there has been a renewal of interest in community development approaches in health and social work in Northern Ireland. The general thrust of these approaches is that local communities can be organised to address health and social needs and to work with government agencies, voluntary bodies and local authorities, in delivering services and local solutions to problems. This approach challenges the traditional social work focus on individual and family casework interventions. Government in Northern Ireland has stressed that community development should no longer simply be added on to key aspects of Health and Social Services, but should instead be at the core of their work. It is now officially recognised that community development has the potential to make a significant impact on a broad spectrum of policies and programmes. which are delivered through agencies in both the statutory and voluntary sectors. This commitment to community development has been outlined in a number of key documents and reports. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate this approach against existing examples of practice. The first section looks briefly at the meaning of community development in a social work setting and then sets out the context in which this move towards a community development strategy is occurring. Against this backdrop a number of case studies are analysed to illustrate how the approach has already been adopted and the lessons of this experience are explored and discussed. While this approach has a lot to offer it is not without its difficulties. Far from being a new philosophy, community development is being reinvented and reapplied. It is therefore crucial that old mistakes are not revisited and old prejudices rekindled. It is hoped that this article will provide a useful contribution to the current important and necessary debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1990s have been of utmost importance for Ireland and the Irish as this decade is characterised by a great diversity of problems: economic problems, unemployment and migration which came as a result of these problems, racial harassment experienced abroad, psychological problems, the Troubles whose serious impact was felt not only in Northern Ireland but also in the Republic of Ireland, which emerged as a consequence of the conflict between the Catholics and the Protestants because of the political status of Northern Ireland and which began at the end of the 1960s and ended in 1998 with Belfast Agreement; self-centeredness emerging as a repercussion of the Celtic Tiger period which was witnessed between 1995 and 2000 and which means economic development in Ireland, and, lastly, the problem of violence. Martin McDonagh, an Anglo-Irish playwright represents these problems emphasising the problem of violence encountered in this decade in a satirical but grotesque way particularly in The Pillowman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the interaction between development control and economic development in the countryside within the context of contemporary debates on shifts in the agricultural sector from productivism to multi-functionality. Using planning application decisions from the case of Northern Ireland for the period 1994-95 to 2005-06, together with insights from high-level key informants with planning, economic development and environmental management expertise, the article critiques a perception that regulatory planning is in line with rural development ambitions to foster a multi-functional countryside. While the quantitative data indicate a high approval rate for economic development projects, the qualitative evidence points to limitations within the policy content and operational practices of the planning system. The article argues that regulatory planning must engage more deeply with rural development objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological innovation associated with e-business is now widely appreciated as one of the key drivers of positive economic change and innovation performance and provides a potentially important test of a region or nation's ability to generate and sustain competitiveness. Specifically, the importance of the knowledge-intensive business service sector to economic growth will increase significantly with rapid development of the service economy and the rise of e-business. Using a quantitative methodology, the research described in this article was aimed at exploring these issues relative to e-business activities within the two regions of Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. We examined e-business ‘global’ drivers, barriers, uses and benefits, and found (among other things) a high level of website ownership (64 per cent). The main perceived barrier to future e-business plans was a lack of government support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The support that businessmen and business organisations displayed for the peace processes in Israel and Northern Ireland was open and vocal, underscoring the supposed linkage between globalisation, peace and economic growth, and the supposed leadership role of business. The purpose of this study is to examine the motivations of the business communities in Israel and Northern Ireland in becoming involved in the peace processes, their organisation to promote peace, decision-making processes at critical junctures, and their actual impact on the political outcomes. Study of the business communities demonstrates that their empowerment enabled them to exert political influence but fell short of hegemony that would enable them to set the wider political agenda. The impact of both business communities, for different reasons, was therefore limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a contextual framework for the new agenda for development, represented in the economic strategy known as Strategy 2010, and the regional spatial plan known as Shaping Our Future. These are considered in the following two articles. This article begins by setting a perspective on the political economy of Northern Ireland and follows with an outline of the spatial planning process. In conclusion, it raises the key challenges facing attempts to renew the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically reviews the most recent economic development strategy for Northern Ireland, Strategy 2010. It is discussed within the context of more general approaches to regional development and in terms of questioning whether it is adequate to address the key structural weaknesses of the local economy. The judgement is that it represents a superior approach to previous economic development strategies, but remains weak in integrating social inclusion objectives into the economic development process, underestimates the potential for developing economic relationships with the Irish Republic and fails to acknowledge that community division remains a barrier to successful development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports the role of local government in economic development in Northern Ireland. Implementation of Local Economic Development Measure of the Northern Ireland Program; Influence in the cycle of structural funds; Formulation of action plans in the assessment of employment and development needs.

Discusses the possibility of inward investment from the United States, as a solution for the conflicts in Northern Ireland. Strategies to encourage economic growth; Social distribution of employment; Conclusion.

The article comments on economic developments in Belfast, Northern Ireland. There is considerable debate on the degree to which regional economies can be masters of their own destiny in the present period of economic restructuring. A recent study of local economic development in Great Britain points out that the relationship between the different scales is not simply a one-way street with localities the mere recipients of fortune or fate from above. Rather localities are actively involved in their own transformation, though not necessarily as masters of their own destiny. Given the centralized nature of the local state in Northern Ireland, the context is one of strong hands-on political direction of planning. With local government bereft of physical planning and other powers as a penalty for past sectarian practices, the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland is virtually a monopoly employer of planners who are accountable upwards through a tier of administrators to central government ministers. The nature of this policy process, which involves the mobilization of strategy from the top, is also explored in the article. Focus here is on planning strategy itself in Belfast, the central plank of which in recent years has been the cultivation of a neutral and normal city centre.

The article focuses on how Laganside Corp., a local delivery vehicle business, contributed much to the economic and social conditions in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Local development efforts can help Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) governments to generate jobs, secure social cohesion and improve governance. Many businesses in OECD countries have used strategies based on infrastructure investment, job creation and Brownfield redevelopment. One factor that made Laganside successful is their Board of Directors which was well led.

The article focuses on Laganside Corp. in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Laganside is a regenerating agency that emerged under the Local Government Planning and Land Act 1980. The agency was established to bring land and building into effective use, to encourage the development of existing industry and commerce, to create an attractive environment and to ensure the availability of housing and social facilities. It is emphasized that Laganside's mission involves physical, social and economic aspects of regeneration.

The article discusses the approach towards social and economic development of Laganside Corp. in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Laganside aims to contribute to the revitalization of Belfast and Northern Ireland by transforming Laganside to be attractive, accessible and sustainable for all. It is noted that the plan of Laganside implies a comprehensive action plan to reduce public and private risks, to attract investments, to improve the quality of life, to create job opportunities, to foster social integration and to work towards long-term economic sustainability. It is ended that the integrated approach of local economic and employment development (LEED) is more likely to be effective than uncoordinated individual actions.