This paper presents an argument and empirical case study to draw out additional nuance in the social construction of institutions. Adapting the conceptual work of political scientists Mark Bevir and Roderick Rhodes to recent accounts in economic geography of institutional change we present an ‘interpretative analysis’ of recent policy changes in the regulation of land use in competitive global regions in London and the South East, UK. The paper examines the appeal to tradition, the construction of policy dilemmas, and the affect these have on what we think of as neoliberal policy reform.
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