The role of state agency in path development: a longitudinal study of two Norwegian manufacturing regions

The role of the state remains underdeveloped in the regional path development literature. This paper analyses how the Norwegian state via different roles (regulator, purchaser, owner, facilitator) directly and indirectly has enabled and influenced path development in two defence-related high-tech manufacturing regions in Norway since the end of the Second World War, notably by contributing to the modification of localised assets and the strategic coupling of those assets to extra-regional defence-related and civilian markets.