What is the potential for new localism to support economic development in rural Canada? Joshua Barrett (RST PhD graduate) and Ryan Gibson explore this topic in a recent peer-reviewed article titled “Revisiting rural economic development: New Localism’s potential in Canadian local government [1]” published in Frontiers in Political Science. As local governments are increasingly asked to take on roles beyond basic services, many rural municipalities are struggling to keep up. Limited staff, tight budgets, and expanding responsibilities have created real challenges for communities that are already stretched thin.

Their research takes a close look at how rural local governments are expected to manage these demands and why many existing governance approaches fall short. Through a systematic review of evolutionary economic geography, staples thesis, new public management, and new localism literatures, this article addresses gaps in existing research and practice through creating a framework for rural local government. This framework provides a practical way to think about economic development, governance, and capacity at the local level.

This research was supported through funding from the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.