THE POLITICS OF PARTNERSHIP - THE ROLE OF SOCIAL PARTNERS IN LOCAL ECONOMIC-DEVELOPMENT IN PORTUGAL

In the production of a dominant ideology for local economic policy, co ncepts of partnership currently play a key role. However, conceptualiz ations of partnership which inform the policy process are often weaken ed by a failure to recognize the unequal power relations between socia l partners, as well as by implicit assumptions of the existence of a r ange of partners available to be drawn into the local development proc ess. This article explores current dominant notions of partnership and forms of economic governance and the role of international organizati ons in promoting particular ideologies of partnership. Through analysi s of recent experiences in Portugal, this article examines how in prac tice the development of partnerships has been heavily constrained by t he underdeveloped nature of local social partners, plus the unequal po wer relations between local and central state organizations and other locally based institutions. It is argued that policies promoting partn ership must recognize these inequalities between partners and show awa reness of the need to build up local institutional capacities for prom oting economic development. Such policies are required in order to con struct a politics of partnership embedded in democratic and participat ive processes of local development and to avoid the domination of the local development process by restricted local and national interests.