Bulletin n. 1/2005 | ||
December 2005 | ||
Roland Sturm, Ju¨rgen Dieringer |
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The Europeanization of Regions in Eastern and Western Europe: Theoretical Perspectives | ||
in Regional and Federal Studies , Volume 15, Number 3 / September , 2005 , 279-294 | ||
Today we witness the process of Europeanization of subnational regions in the 2004 pre-enlargement EU countries and in the new member states. This article reflects on our knowledge about this phenomenon, especially with regard to an East – West comparison. It asks: which promising theoretical approaches have been developed so far for the analysis of (a) the institutional options the Europeanization process provides for the regions and (b) the Europeanization of policy-making in the regions. It points outs that current research is in danger of overestimating formal institutional convergence when comparing the Europeanization of regions, and of underestimating and/or overlooking the consequences of institutional reform for the future fabric of societies and regional political exchange. For the Europeanization of regional policy-making as well as for the impact of Europeanization on regional societies a theoretical framework is developed here. | ||