Is new england regionalism in decline?

• Position: Report

The New England Governors' Conference recently changed in a fundamental 'vav. But there was little public knowledge, debate or understanding that a tradition that has gone back generations is no longer an institutional reality. Nor was there much understanding of the logic of closing down the Boston operation entirely, consolidating with New York and other mid-Atlantic states, downsizing services, and reinventing the Coalition of Northeastern Governors. The NEGC is no longer incorporated; there is no longer a staff dedicated to pushing regional knowledge and working across boundaries. (14) Instead, we have seen a much more informal CONEG, headquartered outside the region it serves, take over these tasks. The expanded CONEG maintains that it is business as usual, but this is not the case. In the new arrangement, New York is supposedly an actor within this new regional organization. Yet New York tends to consider itself as an entity in itself, and few people view New England and the Mid-Atlantic States as a natural region. There are few signs that regionalization in New England is business as usual, despite the messages to the contrary.

In Eastern Canada, there have also been cuts in staff, namely the people who had been working on the New England file. It is important to note that these cuts came after the...