Territory and the Regulation of Industry: Examples from Scotland and Aquitaine

Abstract: Contemporary territorial politics is examined here through its impact upon the regulation of four industries in two European 'regions': Scotland (whisky and beef) and Aquitaine (wine and foie gras). Whereas Scottish actors have engaged assertively and consistently in these processes, their Aquitain counterparts have intervened more defensively and inconsistently. Explanations in terms of economic structure, culture and formal regional-type are rejected. Instead a resolutely institutionalist approach to the actors involved is employed to capture how evolving territorial politics interplays with actor framings of two phenomena—identity and polity—and their instrumentalization of both when influencing the regulation of their respective industries.