EUS 509 Regional and Local Policies of EU
(Asst.Prof.Dr. Melih Pýnarcýoðlu)

It is reported that the key element in gradually establishing the EU's legitimacy, without jeopardizing its policy-making capacity, is the ability of its institutions to link up with sub-national levels of government-regional and local. The Committee of the Regions, an advisory body of more than 200 members representing regional and local governments appears to be the most direct institutional expression of this concern. The real process of re-legitimisation of Europe seems to be taking place in the burgeoning of regional and local initiatives, in economic and social development, which link up horizontally each other, while also linking up with European programmes directly or through their respective national governments.

In this framework, this course aims to enable students to analyse the current power network of supra-national, national and sub-national governments with particular attention to the positions and movements of the local and regional governments. By doing so, it dwells upon the tension between these agents in terms of sharing or pooling of sovereignty in Europe, considering alternative ways of future development. Then, it focuses on policy-making abilities of local and regional governments as well as strategies of regional policy at EU level, considering the new spatial development patterns as well as regional disparities in Europe.