Andr

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THE EUROPEAN UNION ECONOMY, SOCIETY, AND POLITY

• by
• Andrés Rodríguez-Pose
• London School of Economics
• Oxford University Press
• ISBN 0-19-874286-X

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Part III
POLITY
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Chapter 7
Regionalism and regionalization
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Introduction

• An important challenge to the European
  nation-state is emerging from below
• Recently most European countries have witnessed a
  revival of regionalism
• This revival has triggered processes of
  regionalization and devolution
• Centralized states are increasingly becoming the
  exception to the rule (a Europe of the Regions)
  
• Main questions
• How and why did the process of regionalization
  come about?
• Are we really witnessing the emergence of a
  Europe of the Regions?

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Regional devolution in Europe

• At the end of the 1960s
• The great majority of the states in Europe were
  centralized states
• Powerful central administrations
• Solid and generally small local authorities
• Regions as mere administrative divisions
• Austria, Germany, and Switzerland (with
  Yugoslavia on the other side of the Iron Curtain)
  as the main exceptions to the rule
• At the beginning of the 21st century
• Strong central governments are on the retreat
• Centralized governments are increasingly confined
  to relatively small and homogenous states

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Regional devolution in Europe (II)

• Challenges to the centralized state have been
  widespread in larger and less homogenous states
• Partition of former plurinational states
  Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Soviet Union
• Devolution as a general process in the EU
• Federal states power of the central state
  confined to foreign policy, defence and some
  macro-economic management (A, B, D)
• Regional states Substantial autonomy achieved
  without a profound restructuring of the state (E,
  I)
• Regionalized states less advanced form of
  decentralization (F, P, UK)
• Unitary states little or no decentralization
  (Dk, SF, Gr, Irl, L, Nl, S)

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Regional devolution in Europe (III)

• There are also differences in the levels of
  regional autonomy within states
• Homogenous level of devolution only in federal
  states and France
• Asymmetrical devolution in Italy, Portugal,
  Spain, and the UK
• Historical regions or regions with greater
  identity enjoy higher levels of autonomy (Italy
  and Spain)
• Parts of the country have devolved powers, while
  others remain under central rule (Portugal and
  the UK)

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Level of regional autonomy across the EU
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From regionalism to regionalization

• Two waves of regionalism and regionalization
  (Keating 1998)
• 1960s and 1970s Deeply rooted in identity
  issues
• Late 1980s and 1990s the new regionalism
• More widespread than in the previous wave
• More often based on economic rather than on
  identity grounds
• Austria and Germany
• Federal states since the second WW
• Federal structure as a way to weaken the power of
  the central state and to prevent the re-emergence
  of German militarism

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From regionalism to regionalization (II)

• Belgium
• The country that has undergone the deepest
  transformation From unitary to regionalized in
  1970 and to federal in 1993
• Regional division based on the deep linguistic
  and cultural cleavages that divide the state
• Regional division of power follows two criteria
• Language Three communities (Flemish-speaking,
  French-speaking and German-speaking communities)
• Identity Three regions (Flanders, Wallonia, and
  Brussels)
• The Flemish Community and Region have merged into
  one entity
• Result a complex territorial structure with five
  territorially overlapping subnational entities

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From regionalism to regionalization (III)

• Spain
• A failed secular nation-building process and
  repression of regional identities by the
  Francoist regime fuelled resentment in the
  peripheral nations of Spain
• With the restoration of democracy came a process
  of regional autonomy
• Asymmetrical devolution process across regions
• Highest autonomy in the regions keeping their
  medieval privileges (fueros) The Basque Country
  and Navarre
• High autonomy in regions with strong identity
  Catalonia, Galicia, Andalusia, Valencia, Canary
  Is.
• Much lower level of autonomy in the remaining
  regions (although the gap has narrowed in recent
  years)

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From regionalism to regionalization (IV)

• Italy
• Origins of the regionalization process can be
  traced back to imperfect nation-building
• Important cleavages remain
• The Questione Meridionale (question of the
  South), relative underdevelopment of the South of
  the country
• Existence of linguistic minorities in peripheral
  regions
• 1948 Constitution has provided for asymmetrical
  devolution
• 5 special status regions, with a high level of
  autonomy (Sicily, Sardinia, Valle dAosta,
  Trentino, Friuli)
• 15 ordinary status regions, with a much lower
  level of autonomy
• Ongoing process of federalization

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From regionalism to regionalization (V)

• UK
• Regionalism has basically affected the peripheral
  nations of the country
• The union state, created in 1707, has not
  succeeded in creating a British national identity
  
• The first wave of regionalism of the 1960s and
  1970s ended with the rejection of devolution in
  referenda
• A second wave has taken place since the arrival
  of New Labour in 1997
• Devolution was approved in referenda for
  Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and London
• However, asymmetrical level of devolution, with
  a huge gap between the powers of the Scottish, at
  one end, and the London executives, at the other

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From regionalism to regionalization (VI)

• France
• Weak decentralization in France more the result
  of planning than of the strength of regionalist
  movements
• Direct election of Regional Councils from 1986
  onwards has granted French regions greater
  legitimacy
• But level of autonomy well below that of
  neighbouring countries
• New regionalist wave in the late 1990s and
  beginning of the 21st century
• Devolution for Corsica on the political agenda

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The bastions of centralism

• Seven of the fifteen Member States of the EU are
  still centralized countries
• These tend to be small and relatively homogenous
  countries
• Devolution debate active in some of these
  countries
• The Netherlands, where regionalization has always
  remained in the background
• Portugal, whose population rejected plans devolve
  powers to the Portuguese mainland regions in 1998

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The transfer of power from the nation state to
the regions

• Regionalization has brought about important
  changes in governance and policy making
  structures across the EU
• Increase of transfers of powers from the centre
  to regional governments
• Even the regions with the lowest level of
  autonomy (i.e. regions in France) are responsible
  for a considerable array of policies
• The expansion of regional powers has not always
  been matched by a similar increase in regional
  resources
• With the exception of Spain, the expenditure
  balance between central and regional and local
  governments has remained relatively stable

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Share of total government expenditure by
different tiers of government (1980-97)
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The transfer of power from the nation state to
the regions (II)

• Recent steps are, however, going in the direction
  of granting greater resources to regional
  governments
• The tax varying powers accorded to the Parliament
  award the Scottish executive a significant
  capacity to raise revenue
• During the 1990s Spanish regions have been
  granted access to 30 per cent of the income tax
  revenues generated within their territory
• Fiscal federalism is advancing in Italy with the
  introduction of new forms of regional taxation

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The roots of the regionalization process

• What are the factors behind the drive towards
  devolution in Europe?
• The revival of nationalism and regionalism across
  Europe since the 1960s
• The sources behind this regeneration where of
  historic, linguistic, and cultural nature
• Regions with a strong identity led the way
  (Catalonia, Basque Country, Scotland, Flanders,
  Brittany, Sicily)
• Demands for autonomy were centred around the need
  to protect and promote regional culture,
  languages, and identity
• The use of economic arguments in the 1990s
• Globalization is undermining the capacity of
  nation states to control economic development
  processes within their territories
• The region is becoming a key actor in a global
  setting

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The roots of the regionalization process (II)

• Globalization also poses challenges to regions
• The greater mobility of factors of production is
  forcing regions to adopt more pro-active
  development strategies
• Regions and cities are forced to compete with one
  another for mobile assets
• Regional success increasingly depends on the
  capacity of each region to adopt pro-active
  policies and to form a complex web of public and
  private institutions
• Devolution is regarded as a way of guaranteeing
  economic survival in an increasingly competitive
  world

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Towards a Europe of the regions?

• It is claimed that transfers of powers to
  supranational and subnational bodies is
  contributing to the hollowing out of the nation
  state
• Taken to its limits, this implies that the nation
  state in the European context no longer matters
  (OBrien, 19992 Ohmae, 1995)
• Emergence of a Europe of the regions
• But is a Europe of the regions really emerging?
• For some (Milward, 1999) European integration has
  not only not weakened, but is reinforcing the
  power of the nation state

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Towards a Europe of the regions? (II)

• The transformation of the nation state
• Capacity to shape matters that go beyond their
  national boundaries
• States as power brokers between subnational and
  supranational levels of government (Hirst and
  Thompson, 1995)
• Regional economic performance still very much
  embedded in national economic performance
• We seem to be closer to a Europe with the
  regions than to a Europe of the regions

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Conclusion

• The revival of regionalism has triggered a
  profound transformation of the territorial
  organization of European states
• Devolution processes have both advantages and
  disadvantages
• Advantages
• Greater diversity of policies and possibly
  greater transparency and adjustment to local and
  regional needs
• Disadvantages
• Greater competition among regions
• Possibly a lower capacity of poorer regions to
  compete in a globalized world