Change vs. reproductive agency in local path development of post-socialist small towns

Authors: Ema Corodescu-Roșca, Alexandra Cehan, Mihail Eva
Presenter: Ema Corodescu-Roșca

Abstract
Globalization and metropolization confronted small towns to shrinking population, economic decline and shortage of opportunities, therefore challenging the emergence of new development paths. The present paper focuses on multi-stakeholder governance mechanisms involved in the development paths of two post-socialist small towns in Romania. We follow a qualitative case study methodology, based on the triangulation of sources (official documents, newspaper articles, micro-data, interviews with stakeholders, etc.), in order to trace each local development path. The agency in the two cases is compared based on the “trinity of change agency” framework of Grillitsch & Sotarauta (2020), including the distinction between change and reproductive agency introduced by Baekkelund (2021). We hypothesize that small towns which benefit from a higher accessibility or other structural advantages are more prone to display change agency, but the mix of change and reproductive agency remain highly dependent upon the unique constellation of local stakeholders’ strategies and actions.