Frances Fukuyama's renowned, influential tome Political Order and Political Decay is not the obvious place to start looking for insight into combined authorities (CAs) – the current preferred local authorities (LAs) vehicle for enhanced local leadership and governance of growth.

But its insights are apt and devastating. If we are to avoid shallow CAs as top-down Whitehall ‘guided centralism', then we need to understand these insights; mitigate their risks; and address CAs' chronic deficits.