The Limits of Regionalism in Achieving Effective Spatial Outcomes

Abstract Institutional quality matters and decentralisation and regionalisation should be in service of this overall aim. This paper, in putting forward this simple proposition, lays out evidence on regionalisation, decentralisation and institutions. Despite an assumption that the establishment of regional bodies can solve a series of problems – such as subsidiarity and multi‐level governance co‐ordination – and help to secure aspirations for economic growth, we sketch out concerns that regions may exacerbate rather than improve such issues in some instances. Our argument in this paper draws on a close reading of policy evolutions in Portugal and England, where we point to institutional cracks and tensions through an assessment of ongoing policy processes. Both contexts are centralised and are working through, in various ways, steps towards decentralisation. In re‐centring institutional qualities within processes of regionalisation and decentralisation, we seek to give focus to a set of key political economy perspectives on changing sub‐national governance.