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Developing European regions? Unity and diversity in the new Europe

This paper introduces a project recently started by the authors on the relationship between European integration and regionalisation in both extant member states and applicant countries. Our main question is whether we are witnessing a process of Europeanisation in relation to sub-central state structures; a common pattern of regional governance within member states. Related to this, we are concerned with the extent to which EU membership, and EU institutional actors in particular, have influenced the pattern of regionalisation. This paper situates the influence of the EU in the context of other potential explanations for change in European regions beyond the EU system (globalisation) and within the member states (sub-central demands for greater autonomy). It also places the public policy literature on policy diffusion and policy transfer alongside the concepts of globalisation and Europeanisation to provide a framework for comparative analysis. We provide a brief picture of developments in regional governance in a number of states and reflect on the issues this picture raises for future research. INTRODUCTION Across Europe, both inside and outside the EU, regional politics, policy and governance is changing. At all levels of analysis, changes in regions are frequently presented as evidence of more wide-ranging trends in governance. The postwar process of European integration has developed in the context of two discernible trends in international politics: globalization and decentralization. At a global level, much of the literature dealing with international systems convergence points to increasing regional bloc formation as a 'by-product' of larger systems level change (Held et al, 1999). In this respect, the evolution of the European Union (and other regional blocs such as ASEAN and NAFTA) are often held up as evidence of this globalization process. This reconfiguration is said to impact upon the political organisation and administration of states. Yet globalization is a contested concept. How it has affected and been affected by the process of European integration is also contested (for a discussion, see Payne 2000). At sub-national level, this changing environment has led to new configurations of interests, new regional actors and new 'rules of the game' for