The Regional Challenge in Central and Eastern Europe

Central and eastern European countries are undergoing internal transformations, to liberal democracy and the market economy. At the same time, they must meet the criteria for European integration. This book examines the territorial dimension of these challenges. Central and eastern Europe has its own distinct histories of territorial politics and state structures, which continue to influence the present. Like their western neighbours the countries of the region must confront a world in which politics and policy making are changing in scale, with the emergence of new local and intermediate levels. The market economy and free trade can lead to increasing economic disparities. National and ethnic minorities create a demand for local and regional devolution. The European Commission and other external agents have posed requirements for new administrative structures to manage European funding. All this creates a complex set of pressures to which the transition countries must respond. This book, by an international group of scholars, examines these challenges from a diversity of angles, historical, economic, political and institutional.

Autorentext

The Editors: Michael Keating is Professor of Regional Studies at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy and Professor of Scottish Politics at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He gained his BA at the University of Oxford and Ph.D. at Glasgow College of Technology, and previously taught at the Universities of Strathclyde and Western Ontario. He is the author of numerous books and articles on urban and regional politics and minority nationalism.
James Hughes is Reader in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. He was awarded a BA (Hons) First Class from Queen's University Belfast, and PhD from the University of London (LSE). He has published widely on the role of elites and regions in post-communist transition, ethnic conflicts and minority issues.

Inhalt

Contents: Michael Keating: Territorial Restructuring and European Integration - Daniele Caramani: State Administration and Regional Construction in Central Europe: A Comparative-Historical Perspective - Michael Keating: Regionalization in Central and Eastern Europe: The Diffusion of a Western Model? - James Hughes/Gwendolyn Sasse/Claire Gordon: EU Enlargement, Europeanisation and the Dynamics of Regionalisation in the CEECs - Martin Brusis: Regionalisation in the Czech and Slovak Republics: Comparing the Influence of the European Union - David Sadler: Production Systems and Uneven Development in East Central Europe: The Limits to Regional Economic Management - Harald Baldersheim/Pawel Swianiewicz: The Institutional Performance of Polish Regions in an Enlarged EU. How Much Potential? How Path Dependent? - Jan Bucek: Balancing Functional and Ethnic Regionalisation: Lessons from Slovakia - Judy Batt: 'Fuzzy Statehood' versus Hard Borders: The Impact of EU Enlargement on Romania and Yugoslavia - James Hughes: Regional Convergence and Divergence in an Enlarged EU.