GIBT ES IM RUHRGEBIET EINE „POSTFORDISTISCHE REGIONALPOLITIK“?

• Published in: Geographische Zeitschrift 1992-01, Vol.80 (2), p.84-105
• Main Author: DANIELZYK, RAINER
• Format: Article
• Language: ger
• ISSN: 0016-7479

The Ruhr district, a typical old-industrialized region dominated by the coal and steel industries has been beset by a structural crisis for many decades. From the mid-sixties onwards the government of the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, led by Social Democrats, has tried to cope with the restructring process by setting up integrated development programmes. These programmes are obvious expressions of a „fordistic mode of regulation“ which follows the basic principles of Keynesian politics. Around the mid-eighties two new approaches to cope with the complex problems of structural change came to the fore: Firstly, the Emscher Park International Building Exhibition - with over 70 de-centrally organised single projects - is intended to promote the economic, social and ecological restructring of the most problematic area within the region. Secondly, within the framework of a regionally orientated economic structural policy, the most important economical actors are requested to devise development concepts and strategies by means of consensual discussions. In this paper both approaches are presented. The question whether this form of decentralization and flexibilization of politics represents a „post-fordistic mode of regulation“ cannot be answered clearly. While the mode of accumulation in the Ruhr district cannot be called clearly „fordistic“ because of the overwhelming meaning of the coal and iron industry, the regime of regulation fits into the theoretical approach accurately. This is a result of a balanced bargaining power of state institutions, capital fractions and trade unions.