LOCALISATION IN A GLOBALISED AGE:The Rise of Transformational Leadership and Postnational Participation at the Local Level

摘要

The global competition economy is impacting the way local government is run and how local elected officials behave. Within local government, elected officials are reacting to the changes by positioning themselves within the global political economy. Two key actors linking the global and the local are local elected officials and ethnic entrepreneurs. It is important to understand what behaviours are facilitating the connection of local economies to the global economy and what local structures enable or inhibit the activity. This research examines the changing behaviours and structures at the local level as a result of globalisation.The research presents positive indicators from empirical research and three local case studies that a dyadic arrangement of transformational leadership and a legislative-­‐activist structure appear more likely to connect a local economy to opportunities in the global economy. Further, in the areas examined within this research, it emerges that a politically motivated elected official advances a local connection to the global stage more than one motivated by a purely public servant agenda; and representation embodied by a political party and global ideals connects the local to the global with greater frequency than a correlation to a local or national representational focus. The research is based on and expands several fields of study including international relations, economics, immigration and politics. The empirical research and case studies contribute to the existing body of literature by providing a conceptual framework for structure-­‐plus-­‐agency to view and understand how the global economy impacts the behaviour of local elected officials and ethnic entrepreneurs and how changing structures in local government facilitate or constrain these activities. Further, the research presents a new measure for behaviour and structure (based on Clark and Moonen, 2013) to extrapolate the potential for local participation in a global economy.