Suchergebnisse

The 'Europe of the Regions' debate in the late 1980s and early 1990s influenced the current regionalization process in Sweden; regional actors used it as an argument for further decentralisation of power with a degree of success (Warleigh-Lack & Stegmann McCallion 2012). Thus one important element in any discussion around a 'Europe of the Regions' and its possible obsolescence is its impact not just at the EU level but also in the regionalization processes within member states. If the EU is a multi-level polity, then for a Europe of the Regions truly to be 'obsolete', it must be absent at each level of the polity, in each member state. This article argues that a Europe of the Regions is far from obsolete, although it may well be patchy and expressed differently, and to different degrees, in each EU state. Focusing on the case of Swedish regional actors, the paper argues that officials and politicians from this level, who participate in politics at the EU level or in the EU arena, see this participation as a win-win situation that they wish to preserve.

The regional level of governance has been intensively discussed in Sweden since the 1980s. One of the reasons is that Sweden has an obvious national level of administration and an equally obvious local level of administration (with relatively independent municipalities). However, despite the debates regarding change, the county (regional/meso) administration level actually remained incoherent, meaning that the term 'regional mess' is frequently used to describe it. Drawing on empirical work, this article evaluates recent attempts to change regional governance in Sweden that have resulted from domestic and international (and especially 'EU'ropean) pressures. In particular, the article focuses on the experimental reform at regional level – the development of Regional Pilot Project regions and, subsequently, the Regional Development Councils. It establishes the mix of domestic and European pressures, which produced these changes, and argues that the result has been an exacerbation, rather than a cleaning-up, of the 'regional mess'.

Internationalisation of regional development policies – Needs and demands in the Nordic countries. It is commonly argued that European integration has and will continue to present challenges for Nordic regional policy-makers located both inside and outside the Member States of the European Union. More and more Nordic regional actors have concluded that the European Union represents a political and not just a financial resource worthy of greater attention, and many continue to refine how they can get the 'best out of the European Union'. This Report is a detailed 'bottom-up micro-study' of three Nordic regions, and is distinctive in arguing that – by using innovative Regional Action and Fusion approaches – a clearer understanding of the functional activities of regional actors can be gained. The Report, bringing together an international team of researchers, investigates the types and forms of functional activity undertaken by regional actors when handling European Union questions. It also examines the attitudes and future ambitions of regional actors and aims to help them to understand more clearly what they do now, and reflect upon how they might improve in the future. The Fusing Regions? research reveals notable variations in activity among our three regions, combined with evidence in all three cases of a strong desire among regional actors to continue to further harness the benefits of European integration partly as a means to 'bypass' the nation state and to develop closer relations between their respective region and the European Union.

Mapping of the territorial R&I ecosystems Grand Est, Styria and Värmland in a comparative perspective, with respect to (i) R&I governance, strategies and actors, and (ii) regarding their R&I activities and the role of digitalisation therein. ; This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement nº 873010. Project title: Responsible Research and Innovation approach for transitioning the traditional industry regions into digitalised industry territories (DigiTeRRI). Project coordinator: Marianne Hörlesberger, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH Project URL: www.digiterri.eu