Regionalentwicklung und raumbezogene Politik in Großbritannien im Zeichen von "Thatcherismus" und "Post-Thatcherismus"

Abstract

This contribution deals with social and economic changes in the United Kingdom and their spatial patterns since Margaret Thatcher assumed office in 1979 until the present-day. The political framework which accompanied or, rather, facilitated this process -"Thatcherism" as a general and s patially oriented state policies as a more specific set of conditions- forms the second issue adressed in this paper. After having played a rather peripheral role under the Conservatives the regional level is now back on the agenda under the new Labour administration. Both, in the Celtic Nations and in England the new government intends to set up bodies of regional administration, either in the form of parliaments (in Scotland and Wales) or in the form of assemblies (in the English "regions"), which are -to a varying extend- to receive administrative functions devolved from Whitehall. These developments in the sphere of the territori al organisation of public administration which demonstrate a fundamentally new assessment of the importance of the regional level for (planning) policies under the new Labour government form the concluding part of this contribution.