University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 8-2015 Globalization and inter-local cooperation : the mediating roles of local contexts in the global North and South. Eric Yankson University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Part of the Urban Studies Commons Recommended Citation Yankson, Eric, "Globalization and inter-local cooperation : the mediating roles of local contexts in the global North and South." (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2240. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/2240 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The nivU ersity of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The nivU ersity of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GLOBALIZATION AND INTER-LOCAL COOPERATION: THE MEDIATING ROLES OF LOCAL CONTEXTS IN THE GLOBAL NORTH AND SOUTH By Eric Yankson B.A., University of Ghana-Legon, 2006 M.Sc., University of Alabama, 2011 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Louisville In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Urban and Public Affairs Department of Urban and Public Affairs University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky August, 2015 Copyright © 2015 by Eric Yankson All Rights Reserved GLOBALIZATION AND INTER-LOCAL COOPERATION: THE MEDIATING ROLES OF LOCAL CONTEXTS IN THE GLOBAL NORTH AND SOUTH By Eric Yankson B.A., University of Ghana-Legon, 2006 M.Sc., University of Alabama, 2011 A Dissertation Approved on May 8, 2015 By the following Dissertation Committee: Hank V. Savitch, Ph.D. (Chair) Steven G. Koven, Ph.D. (Member) Margath Walker, Ph.D. (Member) Charles E. Ziegler, Ph.D. (Member) ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my profound gratitude to the Almighty God because I could not have come this far in my academic pursuits without His guidance and protection. He is the author of my life; and I owe my existence to Him. I am also grateful to my dissertation supervisor, Dr. Hank V. Savitch, for his input, guidance, and penchant for excellence which have contributed immensely to the quality of this work. As a distinguished scholar and mentor, Dr. Savitch inspires me greatly; and I am humbled by the opportunity to have worked with him. Moreover, I wish to thank Dr. Steven G. Koven, a member of my dissertation committee, for bringing his wealth of experience, knowledge, and insights to bear on my research through his comments and suggested changes. I am also thankful to Dr. Margath Walker for her great contributions as a member of my dissertation committee; particularly her comments and the invaluable knowledge gained from her qualitative methods class, which have enriched the quality of my research. I wish to thank Dr. Charles E. Ziegler, also a member of my dissertation committee, for his insightful comments, suggestions, and inputs. I am grateful to a number of persons (currently or previously affiliated with the Department of Urban and Public Affairs at the University of Louisville) for contributing in diverse ways to the success of my studies and research. Specific thanks go to Dr. David Imbroscio, Dr. David Simpson, Dr. Steven C. Bourassa, Mr. Yani Vozos, Ms. Juli Wagner, Ms. Patty Sarley, and Mr. Chris Peveler. I also wish to thank all my professors iii in both the doctoral and master’s programs (especially Dr. Seth Appiah-Opoku) for their advise, guidance, and support in the course of my academic endeavors. The interviews carried out in connection with this study would not have been possible without the respondents and facilitator. Thus, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to the various business/investment and local officials in Chicago and Accra who graciously took time off their busy schedules to be interviewed in connection with this research. I also thank my sister (Marian Yankson) for her role in arranging and facilitating my interviews in Accra. I am grateful to the organizations in Chicago which provided me with data/information in connection with this study. I also thank some foreign/diplomatic missions in Ghana for responding favorably to my request for data in relation to this research. I wish to thank my parents, Anthony and Grace Yankson, for inculcating in me the love for knowledge, imbibing me with self-confidence, and inspiring me to aspire to greater laurels. My siblings (Cynthia, Ernest, Anthony, and Marian Yankson) and cousin (Kojo Baiden) have also been strong pillars of support; and I am grateful to them. I am thankful to my close friends (Naa Ansaa, Adjoa Basintale, Charles Kaye-Essien, Emmanuel Frimpong Boamah, Will and Maria Drake, John and Mabel Micah, Worlali Senyo, James Malm, Stephen Adu, and Emeka Nwafor), my contact families in Louisville (Mike and Joy Hagan; Ron and Nancy Aguiar) and all loved ones whose efforts and encouragement one way or the other have contributed to the success of my studies and research. iv ABSTRACT GLOBALIZATION AND INTER-LOCAL COOPERATION: THE MEDIATING ROLES OF LOCAL CONTEXTS IN THE GLOBAL NORTH AND SOUTH Eric Yankson May 8, 2015 There is an area of scholarly interest which argues that globalization brings about the need for collaboration among local governmental units in order to address common challenges. According to Brenner and Swyngedouw, globalization also results in rescaling because it redefines spatial and political frameworks, and thus transfers powers to actors beneath and beyond the nation-state. Inter-local cooperation is a form of rescaling since it reconfigures territorial boundaries and results in either decentralization or centralization. This research explores the implications of globalization for inter- jurisdictional collaboration, as modified by local factors. It focuses on two city-regions in the Global North and South respectively (i.e. Chicago, Illinois and Accra, Ghana). Specific research questions are: (a) What is the nature of globalization in Chicago and Accra given their unique local contexts?; (b) How do local factors mediate the implications of globalization for regional cooperation in the two metropolitan areas?; (c) What are the ramifications of globalization for rescaling in the two city-regions, given their respective local contexts? v The qualitative inquiry is exploratory in nature and relies on secondary data, discourse analysis, and interviews. It finds that because of their different levels of strategic importance in the global economy, Chicago serves as a headquarter location for multinational corporations, while Accra plays host to subsidiaries or local branches of such corporate entities. As a result of Chicago’s strong private sector and history of civic engagement, globalization has resulted in a fluid, voluntary, and informal approach to regionalism characterized by resistance to annexation and political fragmentation. In the case of Accra, governmental institutional restructuring associated with the global era has created an administrative, directed, and formal approach to regionalism, associated with territorial expansion and centralized bureaucracy. The research shows existing works by scholars such as Brenner and Swyngedouw do not sufficiently account for the mediating roles of local contexts, particularly in the Global South, when analyzing the implications of globalization for regionalism. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ xii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xiii CHAPTER 1 ....................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 Overview ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Globalization, Nations, and Cities ................................................................................ 4 1.2 Inter-Local Cooperation, Governance, and Government .............................................. 8 1.3 Globalization, Inter-Local Cooperation, and the Roles of Local Factors ................... 10 1.4 Scope and Justification of the Study ........................................................................... 13 1.5 Organization of the Study ........................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER 2 ..................................................................................................................... 19 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................. 19 Overview ........................................................................................................................... 19 2.1 Globalization and