Explanatory Model of the Relationship between Regional Governance, Institutional Capacity and Sustainable Development in Iran

Abstract

Institutional capacity has been recognized as one of the new policies and instruments for the regional development. While, the way in which the institutional capacity affects the regional development has been discussed as a basic problem in the academic and policymaking communities concerning the regional development, and there is no specific model for explaining the problem. On the other hand, many regions of Iran, as a developing country, face the great social, economic and ecological challenges which make it necessary to consider the institutional capacity at the regional level and its effects on the sustainable development. Therefore, this research aims at responding the basic question of: what is the proper model in the framework of the regional governance for explaining the relations between the institutional capacity and the sustainable regional development, emphasizing on Iran conditions?In this research, we have used a combination of survey-quantitative and quantitative methods to study the relationships among the regional governance, institutional capacity and sustainable development based on mainstreaming it in decision-making and activities of the region's institutions. To determine the amount of the institutional capacity effect on the sustainable development through the regional governance, and with regard to the concentrated structure of the country's administrative system and to determine the effect of such concentrated system, we studied the existence of such relations at the regional level, in from of case studies in Boukan and Orumiyeh counties. The results show that there is a direct relationship between the institutional capacity and mainstreaming sustainable regional development. According to the regression analysis results, mainstreaming sustainable regional development has correlation of 0.725 with the constituent factors of the institutional capacity. In addition, the results of the path analysis reveal that the constituent factors of the institutional capacity have different share in the mainstreaming sustainable regional development; so that appropriate legal arrangements, integrated institutions, abilities of institutions, learning and knowledge are effective on the mainstreaming sustainable regional development with 0.604, 0.356, 0.354, 0.248 and 0.074, respectively.

Keywords: Explanation, Institutionalism, Institutional Capacity, Sustainable Regional Development, Iran.