LECTURE 12
Regionalism, competition and geopolitics: European
integration in Central Europe
The
problem from which discussions during this lecture started underlines a basic dilemma
of current regional development policies: namely, what effects the
implementation of region-based development designs might produce at the scale
of larger territorial entities beyond the geographical borders of a region. Is
regional development likely to reduce economic discrepancies, or, on the
contrary, by focusing on a particular region, is contributing in fact to the
deepening of the gaps between the development levels of various regions?
Analysing the situation in their home regions, students agreed, that both
tendencies are present. The discussion then looked for possible solutions to
overcome the unintended negative effects of regional development and to reduce
economic inequality.