This paper addresses the so-called political rationale of the European Union’s (EU) regional policy in the context of the forthcoming eastern enlargement. The political rationale emphasises a particular type of organisation, involving multiple layers of governance and actors. This organisation is considered important in effectively reducing regional disparities. Regarding the great amount of EU regional funding the candidate states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are expected to receive upon accession, capable institutions and structures for handling these funds are vital. Also, it is a crucial part of the EU’s accession criteria. By using Hungary and the implementation of the partnership principle as a case study, the process of preparing for the regional funds in CEE is investigated in-depth. A policy analysis of the cohesion between EU policy objectives and the Hungarian implementation process of the partnership principle serves as the overall basis for the analysis. In order to analyse and understand the implementation process, Historical Institutionalism (HI) is applied as a theoretical framework. It contributes by assessing the factors affecting the implementation process and thus, policy coherence. A triangulation of data consisting of interviews with Hungarian officials and EU Member State experts involved in the implementation of partnership practices, primary and secondary texts as well as basic statistics is made against the propositions formulated through HI. In turn, a number of analytical findings have been discovered. Firstly, the policy process is seen as highly constrained by formal and informal institutional factors, created by historical policy legacies. These have shaped the goals and preferences of the actors involved and have also privileged certain groups over others. In turn, path-dependency is noticed. Secondly, this has made policy cohesion rather weak, with certain short-term requirements being fulfilled but with a lack of more in-depth, long-term measures. Thus, there is a mismatch between the EU and the Hungarian regional policy organisation. Thirdly, although the formal institutional mechanisms for change are rather rigid, indications of informal mechanisms providing possibilities of institutional change were found, with some actors adapting to the EU enlargement context. This could lead to partnership practises gradually infiltrating some ofthe institutional and organizational features and in turn, become strengthened through the multi-level governance structure of the EU. Yet, implementation of the partnership principle is identified as a long and open process, with the real challenges arriving as Hungary enters the EU

During the last decades a stronger role for the regions has developed in many West European countries. To a significant degree this regionalisation trend has coincided with European integration. The key change in the role of the regional level has been with regard to its status as an agent of regional development. In most West European countries there has been a shift from an approach to regional policy that has focused on redistributive measures from the centre in which the regions play a relatively weak role to a perspective that is sometimes labelled “new regionalism” in which the focus is on the region taking responsibility for its own development. In this new regionalist perspective, which is both descriptive and normative, the region is considered as the appropriate arena for both economic activities and decision-making. In the political systems of the Nordic countries the regional level has traditionally been in a relatively weak position and regional policy has emphasized centralisation and redistributive measures. Not unexpectedly, the pan-European trend toward a stronger role for the region has also found its way to the Nordic countries. The aim of this study is to describe and analyze if and to what extent key actors in three peripheral regions, situated in countries with a strong tradition of redistribution from the centre and a weak role for the regional level, have embraced the new regionalist perspective. The three regions are Troms in Norway, Pohjois-Pohjanmaa in Finland and Västerbotten in Sweden. All are peripherally located with small populations and economies that rely heavily on natural resources. The analysis is based on interviews with regional and local politicians, civil servants, and business representatives. The empirical material is presented in the form of narratives formulated by the regional actors who express their views on regional policy and the role of the region. The results of the study show that regional actors in the three peripheries express similar narratives. To a certain degree actors have embraced the new regionalist perspective in the sense that they see the regional level as an important coordinator for development initiatives and measures. However, the actors’ claims for a stronger regional level must be understood in the context of the unitary state. In this context, the actors’ perspective combines the new regionalist and the centralist redistributive approach, one that can be labelled ‘redistributive regionalism’. The state remains the key actor and is expected to guarantee equal conditions in all parts of the country. The emphasis on strengthening the administrative region is more pronounced in Troms and Västerbotten than in Pohjois-Pohjanmaa, where instead there is a stronger focus on the functional region. Actors in the three regions do not see any contradiction between a strong state and increased regional influence on development issues. In sum, the study finds that the new regionalist perspective has been embraced to a certain extent but that it has been adapted to national characteristics, as well as to the specific conditions in the three regions.

The objective of this thesis is to explore the development strategy and location factors that affect on Taiwanese firms' investment in China's western region. In the first step of this research, we review literature and analyze China's strategy of western region. Main theories adopted in this study include "Regional Growth Theory", "Location Theory", and "Location Policy". In the second step, we adopt questionnaire survey to analyze the intention of Taiwanese firms' investment in China's western region. The statistical analysis of questionnaire data includes the use of t-test, ANOVA-test, Likert's summated scale analysis, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. They examine the relationship and effectiveness between the location selection and intention of Taiwanese firms' investment in China's western region. Through this research, the conclusions of this thesis are as following: firstly, the strategy " Spot-Axle Model" is adopted for the development of western region. Therefore, the location with railway has high priority in western development. Secondly, a total of 585 questionnaires were mailed to 12 industries of Taiwanese firms in China, out of which 78 firms were responding and 70 of them were valid questionnaires. The results of questionnaire survey are presented below: 1) In Taiwanese firms' views, the Sichuan Province, Chongging Municipality, Yunna Province, and Shaanxi Province are the best regions to investment for China's western region. And the best timing is during the period of 2001-2010s. 2) The certainty factors that affect on investment are labors, property policies, communications, and infrastructure. And market is an uncertainty factor. 3) They are different consideration by Taiwanese firm for the choice of locations between eastern region and western region. Taiwanese firms attach importance to market and labor factors in the eastern region. And the infrastructure, communication, preferential policies are the important factors in the western region. 4) According to the factor analysis, 76% of investment considerations can be explained by 10 factors, including quantity and price of labor and land, communications, public facilities, cultures, agglomeration, markets, minerals, policies, economics, and nature environment, which are selected from 36 factors included in this study. 5) We use cluster analysis to analyze the choice of location by Taiwanese firms. The results show that 58.6% samples belong to the category of "quantity and price of labor and land¡Vmarket oriented", and 18.6% samples belong to "nature¡Vinfrastructure oriented".

<p>Abstract</p><p>The aim of this thesis is to examine Interreg as an instrument for regional policy in the European Union. Interreg is an initiative designed to strengthen economic and social cohesion throughout the European Union by fostering balanced development through cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation. But how does it work in practise? Three main questions are asked to answer this:</p><p>How well does the implementation in the programmes work?</p><p>How does the programme management look and how well does it work?</p><p>What degree of efficiency does Interreg show in financial and physical effectiveness?</p><p>With evaluation and implementation as theories the questions are answered together with a qualitative method. The conclusions that can be drawn is that Interreg strengthen European unions economic and social cohesion in form of integration and regional development that in many ways make it easier to travel and trade over the borders. One other conclusion is that the identification between the member states grows and the borders will more and more erase. Interreg does not lead to a more balanced development in European Union because of the programmes regional structure. Some obstacles do remain and the problem with finding common structures for cooperation between states must develop for further progress.</p>

Bakalauro baigiamajame darbe nagrinėjama Lietuvos regionų socialinė raidos netolygumai ir jų kitimo tendencijos. Baigiamąjį darbą sudaro dvi dalys. Pirmoje dalyje nagrinėjama regioninės politikos samprata ir regionų socialinės raidos netolygumų priežastys teoriniu aspektu. Analizuojami pagrindiniai Lietuvos ir Europos Sąjungos teisės aktai, reglamentuojantys regionų plėtrą. Antroje dalyje atlikta regionų socialinės raidos netolygumų sveikatos apsaugos, nedarbo, teisėsaugos, švietimo bei kultūros srityse statistinė analizė ir vertinimas. Pagrindinis tyrimo tikslas- įvertinti regionų socialinės raidos netolygumus ir jų kaitą. Tyrimu nustatyta, kad socialinės raidos netolygumai pasireiškia visose analizuojamose srityse ir turi tendenciją didėti. / Bachelor‘s thesis researches the social development of Lithuanian regional disparities and their trends. The final work consists of two parts. The first part deals with the concept of regional policy and regional imbalances in social development causes a theoretical point of view. Analyses the main Lithuanian and European Union legislation on regional development. The second part made of regional social development disparities in health, unemployment, law enforcement, education and culture, statistical analysis and evaluation. The main aim of the research - to assess the regional disparities in social development and change. The research found that disparities in social development occurs in all analyzed areas, and has a tendency to increase.

This thesis aims at analyzing why the municipality of Flen, in the eastern part of Sweden, has experienced strong depopulation for the last forty years in spite of its relative vicinity to Stockholm. The study uses current theories on regional developement, population theory and theories on regional enlargment to help explain and to evaluate the different regional factors that affect the developement of Flen on the local level. The thesis is primarily focused on the subject of regional policy and strategies to meet regional depopulation. The study also gives a presentation of the strategies of major regional institutions as well as analyzing what impact regional policy have on local policy in the municipality of Flen. Interviews with local officials, politicians and other people representing the population of Flen were carried out to achieve a better understanding of the specific challenges that the municipality faces and of the measures that are taken to meet them. Regional policy in Sweden prioritises measures that promote regional enlargment to link the housing and labour markets together with the regional infrastructure. Each region should promote and develop its own unique qualities as a way of stimulating growth. This disregards the former notion that the state should strive for regional growth to be achieved equally distributed within its boundaries. The thesis puts forward the view that this development could lead to an allowance for some regions to be neglected by the state. The findings in this study show that the measures that are put in to curb the stagnation in the municipality of Flen are made with difficulty and cannot be financed without external aid. The challenges are to a growing extent no longer managable by the municipality itself which brings me to a final conclusion that predicts that Flen could befavoured in a future municipal reform in which there are clearer connections to Stockholm and to other larger towns in the region, as well as a new delimitation that better takes the functional relationships of the population into account.

The Structural Funds, (namely the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund and lastly the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance) being the most important instruments of European Community Regional Policy have gone through a process of reform since their establishment as a consequence of European Union integration. This thesis aims to analyze the process of reform of the Structural Funds taking processes of widening and deepening of European Union as the main triggering factors. The thesis also traces the historical evolution of the Structural Funds and results of each main refom movement in a descriptive manner.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2002. / Härtill sju uppsatser.

Diss. Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2005.

The topic of my thesis was suggestion of methods with comparison of negative factors having impact to researched region. Next I focused on arrangement to improve situation in chosen region in according to suggested methodology.