When do institutions, policy sectors, and cities matter? Comparing networks of local policy makers in Britain and France

This article explores the relative influence of policy sectors, political i nstitutions. and urban contexts on the operation of contemporary governance . The research compared the membership, structure, governing capacity, and change of local economic development and secondary education policy network s in four cities: Lille and Rennes in France and Leeds and Southampton in t he United Kingdom. The main Ending is that the type of policy sector mediat es the impact of political institutions. There an strong differences betwee n French and British education policy networks but similarities between the economic policy networks. Then is variation by city in economic developmen t networks but much less in secondary education. The implication of the fin dings is that some sectors, such as economic development, tend to be simila r across nation-states and permit subnational variation, whereas others ret ain strong country differences and maintain intrastate uniformity, a findin g that is consistent with the longevity of state traditions. In the transit ion from government to governance, institutional, sectoral, and urban proce sses become contingent an each other and on their contexts.