3 Why we need a strong Cornish level of government [p.7-8]

Langarth - now a development site

 

Identity and institutions: the potential of culture  [P7]

"Cornwall has a strong sense of identity. But during the public debate over the Review some expressed the opinion that political institutions were irrelevant to the maintenance of cultural identity, for example “we will not be robbing Cornwall of its name or identity” [Local Government Commission, quoted by Kerrier District Council, 1994]. The destruction of a tier of government based on the historic territory of Cornwall, it was argued, would have no impact on the persistence of the Cornish identity. But this position is fundamentally flawed.

 

First, the modern Cornish identity is, primarily, one based on territory. Its core value is not language or religion, race or family, it is the historic territory of Cornwall.  This is precisely why the issues of local government reorganisation in the late 1940s and early 1970s, and the European constituency boundaries throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s have raised so much passion in Cornwall. They were seen as interference with the territory of Cornwall. In a similar way the possible ending of a tier of government based on the historic territory was interpreted in many quarters as an attack on the very basis of an identity rooted in territoriality. It is naive not to expect the destruction of yet another Cornwall-wide institution to undermine feelings of identity in Cornwall.

 

There is another linked reason for retaining a level of government based on Cornwall. At present the Cornish identity is a wasted asset. It’s not just some quaint archaism, an interesting left-over for museum and heritage tourism entrepreneurs to market and/or patronise. Strong local identities can be potential resources for economic development. In Brittany, for example, the vigorous regional economic development that has occurred since the 1960s rests on a strong sense of cultural identity that provides a base for economic regeneration.

 

However, local and regional identities do not automatically or unproblematic ally result in the kind of networking that facilitates economic development.  On the contrary, these social resources have to be encouraged and catalysed. This is where political institutions are a necessary element. Moreover, the Local Government Commission’s view that local government just reflects community identities is very narrow.  Local government is one of those

[P8]  institutions help shape identity as well as reflect it [see Stewart and Stoker, 1989].  At the moment Cornwall has few political or economic institutions through which its identity can be articulated.  One of the aims of reform in Cornwall therefore must be to create such institutions so that the potential of the cultural identity can be realised.  Without such institutions the strengths of a cultural identity are frittered away or left unrealised. With such an institution these strengths can be furthered and will flower.”

 

Cornish Social and Economic Research Group, (1994), ‘Empowering Cornwall – the best government for the region and its communities’.