Change Agency and the Capability Approach: Regional Development and Well-Being on the Edge

The many challenges of our time call for changes in regional economies, increasingly motivating scholars to dive deep into the mechanisms and possibilities for delivering such change. However, the link between regional change and people’s well-being has often been neglected, assuming that new job opportunities, green industrial path development, or higher-value economic activities are inherently good. Rather than assuming such a relationship, this article proposes to combine change agency with the capability approach, thereby introducing a normative and evaluative perspective to explicitly capture individual outcomes. We empirically illustrate the proposed theory of change agency for people’s well-being by studying extreme cases of regional development on the edge. On the edge refers to regions where it is difficult to provide for people’s well-being, due to peripherality, shocks, or a combination of both. We trace the development of two peripheral municipalities in Northern Ukraine, which were temporarily occupied by Russian forces. We demonstrate the potential impact of bottom-up initiatives, which may unfold if local actors are sufficiently empowered. In this context, a decentralization reform, municipal amalgamation, and a mind-set change toward European integration played a key role in enabling change agency. A push for transparent and accountable governance processes led to reduced corruption and increased opportunities for civic engagement. Building trust with businesses enhanced entrepreneurial activities, local and foreign investments, and the inflow of development aid. Capacity-building resulted in multiple projects impacting people’s well-being. In the two cases, good governance was a successful development strategy and enhanced resilience during war.