Gateway and Narrative

A press release dated 3 August 2022 shows a map of South Wales and South West England with an account of how this region is to become the UK’s first Hydrogen Ecosystem (GW4, 2022). The article comes from the GW4 Alliance, described as a collaboration between the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter. These universities are in partnership with Western Gateway, whose website describes the partnership as “the UK’s first pan-regional powerhouse to span two countries”, these being England and Wales (Western Gateway, 2022). An aspirational video stresses the resources and facilities of the area, the opportunities it offers, and its potential for economic growth and for research and development in areas such as nuclear fusion and a hydrogen economy.  A series of articles supports these ideas and gives details of related economic research and publications, outreach activities, the region’s potential to become a world-leading green energy cluster and innovator in new technology, and to provide assets to key international markets. The material presented could perhaps be described as essentially a sales pitch for this important project.

The ‘Western Gateway’ receives a single mention in a paper on the role of narrative in achieving regional transformations, where it was described as barely existing beyond its name (Collier and Tuckett, 2021). The authors mentioned it because it lay partly within the geographical regions on which their research was focussed, Wales and the West Midlands.  This research was concerned with regional disparities, and addressed the role of particular kinds of narrative in the process of economic ‘levelling up’. The research may be considered applicable to regional transformations of a broader kind, such as that which the Western Gateway project aims to bring about, and some of the work of the authors will be outlined below.

One of the concepts used is that of ‘deep stories’ relating to places. These can sustain ideas held collectively within a social network in a particular region, and may help or hinder attempts to bring about change. Four examples of deep stories are given, here much simplified. The first is the QAnon social media network which has promoted the belief that America is run by a satanic hidden state. It is described as impervious to factual evidence, and one of its effects has been to reduce the take up of vaccines against COVID.  The second relates to the South East of England, where success in recent decades, supported by investment, has led to a convincing and widespread forward-looking strategy that supports further investment. Narratives of success have built, in London, into a ‘deep story’ in which the city is seen as “Europe’s predominant cosmopolitan community of opportunity for those with ability.” The third applies to Wales, the poorest mainland region in Britain, which is seen as trapped by prevalent beliefs into “a vicious circle of blame and learnt helplessness” perhaps partly due to its dependence on funding from England. The fourth example is that of the West Midlands, where there appears to be widespread confidence in local abilities, alongside a recognition of restraints such as inadequate infrastructure which need to be overcome if the region is to achieve its full potential.

It is not difficult to accept that deep stories can affect efforts to bring about change in the regions where they persist. The authors describe narratives as being as “old as the development of language and fundamental to communication and coordination.” It is nevertheless possible to alter established narratives and it may sometimes be necessary to do this so that other changes can be made. The authors are particularly interested in decisions made under radically uncertain conditions, and describe three properties of narrative that relate to such situations. The first is that narratives can guide perceptions by enabling “incomplete data to be fitted to patterns through stories that are partially pre-formed”. The second is that a range of different narratives can provide a set of expectations about the future, allowing choices to be made between different courses of action. The third is that stories recruit imagination in a way that enables future situations to be felt as well as thought about, leading to a clearer awareness of whether or not they are desirable.

A theory of decision making is developed “which explains how people actually overcome or suppress ambiguity”. This is presented in the context of economics, and termed Conviction Narrative Theory (CNT). Many decisions have to be made in the absence of sufficient relevant information, and in the presence of too much that is irrelevant. Purely rational decision making is then impossible, but in practice we are not paralysed by indecision: we “draw on our social, emotional, and cognitive inheritance” to help us to feel as well as to know what to do. The “beliefs and conventions already circulating in the community, reflecting its experience and ideas about the future” are likely to be particularly influential in areas such as investment decisions. The view put forward that “knowledge formation is a socio-psychological process enabling action” rejects customary economic thinking in which emotion is regarded as ‘noise’ in relation to objective information.

‘Influencers’ have an important role in commerce because of the stories they tell about products, and in economics central bankers have recognised the coordinating role of narrative in targeting inflation: interest rates guided by monetary rules are routinely supplemented by carefully crafted narratives of the future. In a similar way regional political leaders may be able to “use their power of communication to reset damaging narratives” and to resolve the tensions between individual and common interests which can inhibit collective action. Two conditions are proposed as necessary if regional political leaders are to communicate effectively: they must be trusted, and they must have a suitable Conviction Narrative backed by other powers that enable them to shift incentives such as taxation.

The authors draw on correspondences between theories of trust in economics and in psychology. Trust in a leader needs to be found in all the influential networks within a region and is likely to stem from the record of the leader in previous positions of responsibility. The style of leadership best suited for the ‘role of communicator-in-chief’ is one which is “prosocial, generous, and cooperative . . . using self-deprecating humour”. This is contrasted with more familiar leadership styles of “dominance, in which leaders glory in being commanders-in-chief”. Listening is vital: the leader needs to have listened to the prevailing regional narratives in order to be able to change them. This is particularly important where an existing self-fulfilling narrative is especially resistant to proposed changes: here a leader “must accumulate the knowledge and trust to break through its firewall”. By recognising, tolerating and valuing anxiety, and “using it to be curious about what is going on” it becomes possible to identify and rectify any weaknesses in proposals for change. 

 

References

Collier, P. and Tuckett, D., 2021, Narratives as a Coordinating Device for Reversing Regional Disequilibrium, Oxford Review of Economic Policy , online, accessed 29 Aug. 2022 https://academic.oup.com/oxrep/article-abstract/37/1/97/6211213

Preprint (2020) available from https://www.researchgate.net/

GW4, 2022, Launch of UK’s first Hydrogen Ecosystem Map for South West and South Wales, GW4, online, accessed 29 Aug. 2022

https://gw4.ac.uk/news/launch-of-uks-first-hydrogen-ecosystem-map-for-south-west-and-south-wales/

Western Gateway, 2022, Net-zero Innovation Connectivity International, online, accessed 29 Aug. 2022

https://western-gateway.co.uk/