Regionalisation via EU multilevel governance and territorial cohesion : path dependency and institutional change in the western-Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia

This thesis looks at the definition and diffusion within the EU of a new model of policy-making and implementation based on regions acting within a multilevel system of governance. The focus of the empirical research is on INTERREG, an experimental Community Initiative that has promoted interregiona...

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Main Author: Casula, Clementina
Published: London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) 2008
Subjects:
327
Online Access:http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.498543
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spelling ndltd-bl.uk-oai-ethos.bl.uk-4985432015-06-03T03:20:43ZRegionalisation via EU multilevel governance and territorial cohesion : path dependency and institutional change in the western-Mediterranean islands of Corsica and SardiniaCasula, Clementina2008This thesis looks at the definition and diffusion within the EU of a new model of policy-making and implementation based on regions acting within a multilevel system of governance. The focus of the empirical research is on INTERREG, an experimental Community Initiative that has promoted interregional cooperation across national borders. This thesis argues that INTERREG represents a particularly coherent case of the EU's approach to regional planning and territorial development: in fact, it extends multilevel governance to interregional partnerships defined beyond national borders and adds a territorial dimension to the goal of socio-economic cohesion. Since 1990, when INTERREG was first launched, territorial cooperation has become increasingly relevant to EU Regional Policy (and in the accession of new Member States) until when, in 2007, it was mainstreamed as one of the three new priority objectives of the policy. Drawing evidence from the implementation of INTERREG in the 'islands' programme between the regions of Corsica (FR) and Sardinia (I) from 1990 until 2005, this thesis shows how the process of administrative capacity and institution building promoted by the European Commission at the subnational level has gradually empowered regional actors to take responsibility for the planning and management of strategies for sustainable development of their territories. Although lacking the traditions of interregional cooperation and sharing a past of dependency on their respective central governments in development planning, regional actors have gradually adopted and learned to incorporate the cooperative logic of the EU model proposed by the programme and extended it to other policy domains. However, the potential of interregional cross-border cooperation in terms of enhancing territorial cohesion appears to be limited by the persistent peripherality of the islands and their wider territorial setting (the Western-Mediterranean), prompting the need for a wide-ranging spatial strategy capable of coordinating EU policies.327London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.498543http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2038/Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
collection NDLTD
sources NDLTD
topic 327
spellingShingle 327
Casula, Clementina
Regionalisation via EU multilevel governance and territorial cohesion : path dependency and institutional change in the western-Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia
description This thesis looks at the definition and diffusion within the EU of a new model of policy-making and implementation based on regions acting within a multilevel system of governance. The focus of the empirical research is on INTERREG, an experimental Community Initiative that has promoted interregional cooperation across national borders. This thesis argues that INTERREG represents a particularly coherent case of the EU's approach to regional planning and territorial development: in fact, it extends multilevel governance to interregional partnerships defined beyond national borders and adds a territorial dimension to the goal of socio-economic cohesion. Since 1990, when INTERREG was first launched, territorial cooperation has become increasingly relevant to EU Regional Policy (and in the accession of new Member States) until when, in 2007, it was mainstreamed as one of the three new priority objectives of the policy. Drawing evidence from the implementation of INTERREG in the 'islands' programme between the regions of Corsica (FR) and Sardinia (I) from 1990 until 2005, this thesis shows how the process of administrative capacity and institution building promoted by the European Commission at the subnational level has gradually empowered regional actors to take responsibility for the planning and management of strategies for sustainable development of their territories. Although lacking the traditions of interregional cooperation and sharing a past of dependency on their respective central governments in development planning, regional actors have gradually adopted and learned to incorporate the cooperative logic of the EU model proposed by the programme and extended it to other policy domains. However, the potential of interregional cross-border cooperation in terms of enhancing territorial cohesion appears to be limited by the persistent peripherality of the islands and their wider territorial setting (the Western-Mediterranean), prompting the need for a wide-ranging spatial strategy capable of coordinating EU policies.
author Casula, Clementina
author_facet Casula, Clementina
author_sort Casula, Clementina
title Regionalisation via EU multilevel governance and territorial cohesion : path dependency and institutional change in the western-Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia
title_short Regionalisation via EU multilevel governance and territorial cohesion : path dependency and institutional change in the western-Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia
title_full Regionalisation via EU multilevel governance and territorial cohesion : path dependency and institutional change in the western-Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia
title_fullStr Regionalisation via EU multilevel governance and territorial cohesion : path dependency and institutional change in the western-Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia
title_full_unstemmed Regionalisation via EU multilevel governance and territorial cohesion : path dependency and institutional change in the western-Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia
title_sort regionalisation via eu multilevel governance and territorial cohesion : path dependency and institutional change in the western-mediterranean islands of corsica and sardinia
publisher London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
publishDate 2008
url http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.498543
work_keys_str_mv AT casulaclementina regionalisationviaeumultilevelgovernanceandterritorialcohesionpathdependencyandinstitutionalchangeinthewesternmediterraneanislandsofcorsicaandsardinia
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