Changing Governance, Business Elites, and Local Regulation in Nashville Ola Johansson University of Tennessee, Knoxville
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2004 Changing Governance, Business Elites, and Local Regulation in Nashville Ola Johansson University of Tennessee, Knoxville Recommended Citation Johansson, Ola, "Changing Governance, Business Elites, and Local Regulation in Nashville. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2004. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/4535 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Ola Johansson entitled "Changing Governance, Business Elites, and Local Regulation in Nashville." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Geography. Ronald Foresta, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Charles S. Aiken, Thomas L. Bell, Asafa Julata Accepted for the Council: Dixie L. Thompson Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Ola Johansson entitled "Changing Governance,Business Elites, and Local Regulation in Nashville." I have examined the finalpaper copy of this dissertation for formand content and recommended that it be accepted in partial fulfillmentof the requirements forthe degree Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Geography. R.� Ronald Foresta, Major Professor We have read this dissertationand recommended its acceptance: Acceptance forthe Council: Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies CHANGING GOVERNANCE, BUSINESS ELITES, AND LOCAL REGULATION IN NASHVILLE A Dissertation Presented forthe Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Ola Johansson August 2004 Acknowledgements Several people have aided me in the completion of this dissertation. Foremost I wish to thank my wife, Shelley, who has been my invaluable editor, proofreaderand general computer guru. My major professor, Ron Foresta, has been very influential in the development of the intellectual content of this dissertation. The other committee members have also provided valuable comments from their various perspectives. I would also like to express my gratitude to the entire UT geography department and its congenial environment, where it has been a pleasure to work and study. Moreover, everybodywho agreed to be interviewed for this project or in other ways aided my research endeavors has offeredvaluable assistance. Financial support formy research was provided by the Roland Nilsson Fellowship of the Sweden-America Foundation in Stockholm, and the Arthur Yates Fellowship of the University of Tennessee Graduate School. Last but not least, my parents have been supportive in ways too numerous to mention. 111 Abstract In this dissertation, I explore how power and governancein Nashville is related to economic and institutional change on a national and global scale-the transition from Fordism to post-Fordism. By investigating the political and social institutions of the city, it is my objective to understand how the elites are operating to control and direct development. The study is an in-depth look at the activities of local business and how they decide to respond in a situation of change and uncertainty. Here I stress the importance of collective action among the business elite, which is equally meaningfulto explore as the notion of capitalism driven by competition. The period of analysis stretches fromthe 1980s to the late 1990s: but the early 1990s was a particularly crucial time period in Nashville when a new local regime emerged as a catalyst forthe local post-Fordist mode of regulation. New forms of governance, which reached maturation stage during the 1990s, have evolved in Nashville affectingboth political and business institutions. Governance is increasingly based on power diffusion, transparency and inclusiveness in decision-making, yet dominated by business-friendly policies, which should be viewed in the context of urban competition and the need to position the city to take advantage of economic restructuring. To comprehend the interaction between local development and the national regime, I have studied three relevant policy areas that can exemplify the nature of competitive governance: image and city promotion� airport development� and emerging engagement of business interests in social policy as exemplifiedby education. The first two areas conformto the idea of the city driven by entrepreneurial considerations, while the latter concerns social reproduction. All cases, however, depend on the capacity of business to pursue its goals through collective action. V TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... l 1.1 Statement of the problem ...................................................................................... I 1.2 A note on research methods ................................................................................. 13 2. THE POST-FORDIST SOCIETY ......................................................................... 15 2.1 Introduction to the theory .................................................................................... 15 2.2 Fordism and its demise ....................................................................................... 17 2.3 The nature of post-Fordism ................................................................................. 22 2.4 Critique of the theory .......................................................................................... 29 3. URBAN POLITICS: FROM MACHINE TO REGIME (AND BEYOND) ............ 33 3.1 Urban regime theory ........................................................................................... 36 3.2 The position of business and the imperative of growth ........................................ 40 3.3 Local dependency or local autonomy: The city's place in the economy ............... 42 3.4 The Fordist urban experience .............................................................................. 47 4. IMPLICATIONS FOR CITIES: NEW STRATEGIES, NEW GOVERNANCE .... 51 4.1 Competition, entrepreneurialism, and selling the city .......................................... 53 4.2 State devolution .................................................................................................. 58 4.3 The private-public partnership ............................................................................ 62 4.4 Changing elites in the post-Fordist City .............................................................. 66 5. A BRIEF HISTORY OF POLITICS AND ECONOMY IN NASHVILLE ............ 71 5.1 The formativestage: Nashville's place in the South ............................................. 71 5.2 Goo-goos v. the machine: The politicsof urban development in a one-party town . .................................................................................................................. 80 5.3 The post-industrial local economy ....................................................................... 95 5.4 Bill Boner: A name rarely spoken out loud ........................................................ 102 6. BUSINESS CYCLES AND THE URBAN REGIME .......................................... 109 6.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 109 6.2 Experiences in other cities ................................................................................. 114 6.3 Nashville and the 1980s boom ........................................................................... 118 6.4 The collapse ...................................................................................................... 120 6.5 The elite responds .............................................................................................. 127 7. "TEN PEOPLE CAN'T RULE THIS CITY ANYMORE:" NASHVILLE'S CHANGING BUSINESS ELITE ............................................................................ 133 7.1 The old "backroom" system ............................................................................... 134 7 .2 New business elites: Migration, inter-dependence, new industries ...................... 149 7.2.1 The financialindustry .....................................................................................151 Vll 7.2.2 The health care industry ..................................................................................158 7.2.3 Culture, power, and the Nashville elite ............................................................ 166 7.3 Reforming the Chamber of Commerce ............................................................... 175 7.4 Partnership 2000: Joining the economic development game ............................... 181 7.4.1 Creating Partnership 2000 ................................................................................ l 81 7.4.2 Implementing Partnership 2000 ...................................................................... 187 8.PUTTING THE CITY