Regional governance and bottom-up regional development in the Border Region and County Cavan

This paper investigates the link between regional governance and bottom-up regional development in Ireland. Ireland's approach to regional development has attempted to mirror international best practice, but with little success. Extant literature suggests that the inadequate statutory regional governance provisions and the fragmentation of regional structures of government, semistate agencies and other institutions will frustrate horizontal, vertical and diagonal coordination between actors and, as a result, impede effective bottom-up regional development. The case study of the Border Region and County Cavan provides an in-depth analysis of the levels of horizontal, vertical and diagonal coordination between local, regional and national stakeholders in the preparation and implementation of specific development plans and strategies. The analysis shows that the statutory provisions have strengthened considerably over the years, having a general positive effect on coordination. However, horizontal and diagonal coordination remain weak, impeding the prospects of bottom-up regional development