ABSTRACT
There are many contentious issues surrounding the development of regions, ranging from what actually constitutes a region to what is regional development (Rhodes 1995; Amin and Thrift 1995a; Morgan 1997; Asheim and Dunford 1997). This has produced abstract concepts such as 'decision space' to cope with the notion of region (Sharpe 1993) and long running arguments as to the purpose of regional development (Lovering 1996; Brand et al. 1997). The aim of this chapter is to confront some of these common debates relating to regional development and, utilising research conducted in the UK (Harding et al. 1996), to question the role of elected and non-elected forms of regional representation.
