Towards modeling national preference formation for regional development policy: Lessons from developed and less developed countries

ABSTRACT National preferences for the development of regional and environmental policy are dependent on the competitive resolution of priorities emanating from four national centers of preference formation, namely: (a) national opinion leaders, (b) society at large, (c) state political institutions, and (d) the private business sector. The viability of national policies for regional development and environmental protection is assumed to be a function of the degree of systemic concordance among these four competing loci of preference formation. The paper explores differences between developed and developing countries in the formation of national preferences and analyzes the process by which competing preferences for regional development and environmental protection are ultimately resolved. It demonstrates that MDCs enjoy a high degree of harmony among their more autonomous centers of preference formation to achieve regional development goals, whereas LDCs are constrained by the dominant and coercive role of the state apparatus.