Jansen, drawing extensively on the work of Pierre Clavel (Opposition Planning in Wales and Appalachia, 1983) provides a theoretical framework for analyzing relationships between different levels of government. She defines the tension between levels of centrality of government and local government capacity as the essential indicator for types of intergovernmental relationships. Local capacity is defined as "having the institutions necessary to deal with information" (60). Centrality is defined as "having physical and/or organizational linkages with the economic and political centers of decision-making, or the economic or political core" (60). Using a matrix of low and high centrality and local capacity, Jansen defines four types of intergovernmental relationships.:

Jansen argues that when both centrality and local capacity are present or both are absent, as in the cases of isolationism and polyarchy, the relationships are stable. When there is a disparity between levels of centrality and local capacity, however, as in cases of hegemony or separatism, a region will seek to equalize the forces.