The purpose of this study is three-fold. The first is to provide the reader with a review of the literature concerning the topic of regional political integration. The second purpose is to provide an operational definition of regional political integration which can be useful in the testing of hypotheses. Regional political integration is defined in terms of the regional decision-making process. Various levels of regional political integration are defined, operationalized, and identified. The levels from lowest to highest are as follows: regional promotion, regional information exchange, regional policy coordination, regional monitor, and regional authoritative decision-making. The third purpose of the study is to analyze the factors which are hypothesized to be correlated with and responsible for the changing levels of regional political integration.

Det finns i dag en tilltro hos regionala aktörer att en stark regional tillhörighet och image kan bidra till att sätta regionen på kartan, skapa starkare sammanhållning inom området och på så vis även stötta regionens konkurrenskraft. Det övergripande syftet med denna studie är att öka förståelsen för hur och varför man som organisation och tjänsteman väljer att arbeta med regional identitet i ett planeringssammanhang. Studien undersöker de attityder som finns inom ett regionalt utvecklingsprojekt som innehar en utarbetad målbild med ett fokus på uppbyggandet av en ny region. För att studera detta görs en fallstudie där det empiriska materialet baseras på kvalitativa intervjuer, dokumentanalys och deltagande observationer. Resultaten visar att regional identitet används som en resurs för att uppnå andra mål i regionarbetet, främst att stärka området i konkurrensen mot andra regioner. Att gå från vision till verklighet tros kunna göras genom fortsatt samverkan, bygga ihop området med effektiva transportlösningar och extern marknadsföring. Arbetet inom projektet har inneburit en aktiv urvalsprocess där den regionala bilden tillgivits symbolisk värde och ett specifikt innehåll. Fokus har dock främst legat på den interna förankringen bland det geografiska områdets tjänstemän och politiker. / There is a belief today among regional actors that a strong attachment and image can help strengthen the region and support its competitiveness. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of how and why organisations and its employees choose to work with regional identity in a planning context. The study examines the attitudes that exist within a current regional development project that has produced a vision that partly focuses on building a new regional identity for a particular area. To study this a case study was conducted using qualitative interviews, document analysis and participant observations to gather data. The results show that regional identity is foremost used as a resource for achieving other objectives, in particular to strengthen the area in the competition against other regions. This study suggests that the step from vision to reality is made through continuing regional collaboration, connecting the area through effective transport solutions and external marketing.  The focus in the project has primarily been on establishing the vision among the internal planers and politicians in the geographical area.

This thesis deals with regional development policy in Corsica region in the periods 2000-2006 and 2007-2013. During the first period region remained temporarily in objective 1 - Promoting the development and structural adjustment of regions whose development is lagging behind. This period should facilitate the preparation for the transition into the developed European regions. The aim is to answer the question whether the region succeeded in coping with the new requirements of regional policy in 2007-2013 and if any shift towards an economy based on competitiveness and employment occurred there in contrast with the previous period. Based on the theory of new regionalism and learning regions this work defines three criteria which are used to compare of regional policy region in the given time frame. These are the institutional embeddedness with regard to who is involved in the negotiation of regional policy strategy, the environment in terms of economic configuration of the region and the density of institutions focusing on cooperation between fields of education, research and the private sector. The analysis shows that there has been an economic growth in the region. On the other side the regional policy could not fully focus on competitiveness and employment, as it has to deal with structural...

The thesis Party Change of the Northern League in Italy, deals with the transformation of the Italian Northern League (LN) from regional to national political party. The study aims to be a contribution to a larger scholarly discussion about changes of the Italian political system. Under the criteria that define a regional political party this thesis evaluate whether the contemporary LN truly transformed from regional to national party. The study than connects with the previous findings and follows with analysis of the five factors - the most recent party performance, political system change, institutionalization, leadership change and socio-economic changes in the country which could have affected party's agenda. Different variables are derived from the Kenneth Janda's theory of change in political parties. The research uses the data from the 2013 national parliamentary elections, when LN lost large part of its electorate, and the 2015 regional elections in order to evaluate which of the above mentioned factors influenced the process of transformation of the LN.

Robotics and digital design are associated with the creation of free forms. The thesis deals with the potential of new building technologies in the sense of an opportunity to build on the foregoing regional architecture, disconnected by an industrial mass production. A creation that can reinterpret the charm and diversity of Moravian houses, preserving the continuity between old morphology and today’s housing requirements.

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The study utilizes regional integration theories like neo-functionalism, intergovernmentalism and new regionalism to analyse the formation, structure and transformation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It examines the role of ECOWAS as a sub-regional economic body and its transformation to a political and security body dealing with sub-regional conflict resolution. Though neo-functionalism is generally analysed in reference to European regional integration, the study attempts to draw some lessons from this theory. Also, new regionalism theory is utilized to examine the transformation of ECOWAS from a mere economic body to a security and political entity. Regionalism in West Africa was initially geared towards mere economic cooperation; however, the emergence of ECOWAS on the scene and its subsequent transformation witnessed several changes towards the path of security cooperation. Despite its involvement with the gigantic political and security related activities, a general evaluation of economic integration in West Africa depicts a low level of progress. The poor state of sub-regional economic integration shows that ECOWAS did not complete its regional economic integration agenda before diverting to other sectors of integration. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations have been the dominant topic in sub-regional conflict resolution in West Africa. However, other forms of conflict resolution, including mediation, negotiation, conciliation and arbitration have been severally utilized. Also, in some of the cases, peacekeeping operations have been deployed only after other peaceful efforts have failed. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations are divergent operations with different forms and mandates. Therefore, they are better analysed under the framework of peacekeeping, peace-enforcement and peace-making theories. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations have been a subject of debate by proponents of the principle of non-interference and those of the responsibility to protect. The expediency of military intervention for humanitarian reasons as well as the prevention of genocide, war crimes and catastrophic loss of lives has questioned the principle of non-interference and validated the principle of responsibility to protect. / Political Sciences / D. Litt. et Phil. (International Politics)

The study utilizes regional integration theories like neo-functionalism, intergovernmentalism and new regionalism to analyse the formation, structure and transformation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It examines the role of ECOWAS as a sub-regional economic body and its transformation to a political and security body dealing with sub-regional conflict resolution. Though neo-functionalism is generally analysed in reference to European regional integration, the study attempts to draw some lessons from this theory. Also, new regionalism theory is utilized to examine the transformation of ECOWAS from a mere economic body to a security and political entity. Regionalism in West Africa was initially geared towards mere economic cooperation; however, the emergence of ECOWAS on the scene and its subsequent transformation witnessed several changes towards the path of security cooperation. Despite its involvement with the gigantic political and security related activities, a general evaluation of economic integration in West Africa depicts a low level of progress. The poor state of sub-regional economic integration shows that ECOWAS did not complete its regional economic integration agenda before diverting to other sectors of integration. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations have been the dominant topic in sub-regional conflict resolution in West Africa. However, other forms of conflict resolution, including mediation, negotiation, conciliation and arbitration have been severally utilized. Also, in some of the cases, peacekeeping operations have been deployed only after other peaceful efforts have failed. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations are divergent operations with different forms and mandates. Therefore, they are better analysed under the framework of peacekeeping, peace-enforcement and peace-making theories. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations have been a subject of debate by proponents of the principle of non-interference and those of the responsibility to protect. The expediency of military intervention for humanitarian reasons as well as the prevention of genocide, war crimes and catastrophic loss of lives has questioned the principle of non-interference and validated the principle of responsibility to protect. / Political Sciences / D. Litt. et Phil. (International Politics)

The purpose of the dissertation is to establish a framework with which to assess the prospective gains from regional monetary integration among five neighboring countries in East Africa: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The neo-classical theory assumes that economic and monetary union would stimulate additional growth in such a union as a whole, with the trickle-down effects of overall development, and would enhance factor mobility, solving the problem of regional disparity automatically. Past experiences of African regionalism have shown that countries that participated in a monetary union were able to pursue credible monetary policies. This economic performance has been credited to their monetary policy discipline. Since countries in East Africa are small both in terms of their individual populations and the respective sizes of their economies, the study concludes that regional integration is a useful way of increasing their economic clout and bargaining power on the global scene. / Economics / Thesis (M. Comm.)