Centre-Periphery and Specialization in the E. U. : An Analysis From a New Economic Geography Perspective

This paper attempts an assessment of a number of basic statistical indicators of EU regions and countries from a New Economic Geography (NEG) perspective. After a brief overview of the underlying theoretical framework, two important hypotheses of NEG’s theoretical models are examined for the case of EU regions: (a) the existence of a center-periphery pattern, with the use of indicators measuring the “home market effectâ€; (b) the existence of Marshall-type “economies of localizationâ€, as well as of “dynamic external economiesâ€, on the basis of “knowledge-intensive†and “human capital†indicators. This analysis takes place on a regional scale. An assessment of the evolution of specialization in EU countries is also undertaken with the use of an index of “regional specializationâ€. The analysis provides clear indications that, the deepening of European integration led to both phenomena described by NEG models: (a) the strengthening of two types of concentrations – “the enlargement of the home market†and “local external economies†- in the traditional industrial centres of the EU; (b) an increase in the degree of specialization of its member-states. Policy implications point to the strengthening of factors that could lead to the development of new dynamic centres in peripheral EU regions.

Rural development policy and local governance: Implementing the Leader axis in South-eastern Peloponnese-Greece

Το νέο μοντέλο αγροτικής πολιτικής στην Ευρώπη (γνωστό και ως ‘νέο ευρωπαϊκό αγροτικό μοντέλο’) το οποίο εφαρμόζεται μέσω των Προγραμμάτων Αγροτικής Ανάπτυξης (ΠΑΑ), θεωρείται το πλέον κατάλληλο για την περίπτωση της Ελλάδας, δοθέντων των διαρθρωτικών προβλημάτων του αγροτικού τομέα της (μικρός και πολυτεμαχισμένος κλήρος, μεγάλο ποσοστό ορεινών και μειονεκτικών περιοχών, κτλ.) και της αναγκαιότητας ήπιων μορφών τοπικής ανάπτυξης που θα εξασφαλίσουν την καλύτερη δυνατή αξιοποίηση των ενδογενών πόρων σε διάφορες περιοχές της χώρας. Αναπόσπαστο κομμάτι της Πολιτικής Αγροτικής Ανάπτυξης της ΚΑΠ είναι το αποκεντρωμένο σύστημα διακυβέρνησης, που βασίζεται σε μια προσέγγιση ‘bottom-up’ (από τη βάση προς την κορυφή) υλοποιούμενη μέσω του προγράμματος LEADER. Στο πλαίσιο αυτό, οι περιφερειακοί και τοπικοί φορείς, κρατικοί ή ιδιωτικοί, αναλαμβάνουν έναν ουσιαστικό ρόλο στο σχεδιασμό και την υλοποίηση των ΠΑΑ στην περιοχή τους, μέσω της δημιουργίας οριζόντιων ή κάθετων συνεργειών. Η εργασία αυτή διερευνά τις πιθανότητες εισαγωγής και διάδοσης της προσέγγισης ‘bottom up’ στη διακυβέρνηση των αγροτικών περιοχών της χώρας. Ως περίπτωση-μελέτης επιλέγεται η εφαρμογή του LEADER στην νοτιοανατολική Πελοπόννησο στις περιόδους 2000-06 και 2007-13. Μέσω αυτής της διερεύνησης η εργασία επιδιώκει ακόμη να απαντήσει στο ερώτημα αν η προσέγγιση του LEADER μπορεί να συμβάλλει στην αναζωογόνηση της υπαίθρου και στην εσωτερική συνοχή. Το ερώτημα είναι κρίσιμο και λόγω του ρόλου που ο αγροτικός τομέας καλείται να παίξει στην αναπτυξιακή διαδικασία στο πλαίσιο της τρέχουσας δημοσιονομικής κρίσης.The new model of agricultural policy in Europe, applied through the Rural Development Programmes (RDPs), has been considered most appropriate for the case of Greece, given the structural problems of this country’s farm sector (including the high proportion of mountainous, less favoured areas in its territory) and the need for mild forms of local development, which will ensure maximum use of endogenous resources. An integral part of the rural development policy of the CAP is a decentralized type of governance, based on a ‘bottom-up’ approach and implemented through the LEADER programs. Within this context, regional and local actors, state, private or representing civil society organizations are assigned a substantial role in designing and implementing RDPs in their localities through the creation of horizontal or vertical synergies. Though the LEADER philosophy can be instrumental in the successful application of RDPs in Greek rural regions, it has been rather little researched and investigated. This paper aims at filling this gap in the literature by examining the possibilities of introducing the bottom up approach in the governance of rural regions in Greece, where the old-type ‘sectoral’ (vs. the holitistic development) approach continues to dominate agricultural policy and where local decisions have traditionally (and certainly in the last 30 years or so) been controlled and directed by the central state. A crucial question is can the LEADER type of governance help in the regeneration of the country-side promoting internal cohesion in Greece? The issues discussed in the paper assume further significance in view of the current financial and economic crisis, and the wave of return migration to rural areas it has led to, which assigns rural regions a substantial role in the overall development process

Global Imbalances and EU Core-Periphery Division: Institutional Framework and Theoretical Interpretations

This article places the core-periphery division in the European Union (EU) within the framework of global imbalances and the dramatic geopolitical changes which have affected them in the past decades. These changes, which have been shaping the new world order, amount to the restructuring of developed economies with the engulfing of manufacturing by the financial sector; the shift in the geography of industrial activity resulting from the increased outsourcing and offshoring of production and increasing services; the transfer of competitiveness from West to East, to dynamic Asian economies, notably China; the emergence of chronic trade and financial imbalances in the global system, leading to the “debt-fuelled growth” of many advanced economies. The above developments, facilitated by free trade market reforms and enhanced by the financial crisis of 2008, threaten economic and political dominance of the West, particularly the US, and therefore the existing core-periphery pattern. A similar pattern of developments has been taking place within Europe (through the transfer of industrial production from the West to the East) which implies changes to the old European core-periphery pattern. The article approaches critically and qualitatively the above issues, by examining the convergence trends among EU member states and the possible factors underlying them, as well as a number of theoretical approaches that interpret spatial inequalities and core-periphery patterns

Lament as Transitional Justice

Works of human rights literature help to ground the formal rights system in an informal rights ethos. Writers have developed four major modes of human rights literature: protest, testimony, lament, and laughter. Through interpretations of poetry in Carolyn Forché’s anthology, Against Forgetting, and novels from Rwanda, the United States, and Bosnia, I focus on the mode of lament, the literature of mourning. Lament is a social and ritualized form, the purposes of which are congruent with the aims of transitional justice institutions. Both laments and truth commissions employ grieving narratives to help survivors of human rights trauma bequeath to the ghosts of the past the justice of a monument while renewing the survivors’ capacity for rebuilding civil society in the future. Human rights scholars need a broader, extra-juridical meaning for “transitional justice” if we hope to capture its power

Economic restructuring, crises and the regions: the political economy of regional inequalities in Greece

In the debate concerning a country’s structural weaknesses there is an obvious neglect of space issues, an important component of which is regional imbalances. Yet, the persistence of such imbalances within countries has dictated the continuous investigation of their causes and of the required policy reforms for their reduction. Structural changes, economic integration on a global or regional scale and economic crises have been considered major factors for increasing or decreasing domestic regional concentration and disparities, while economic policy can mitigate (or strengthen) their effect. This paper attempts to examine and critically evaluate the above issues for the case of Greece, where regional inequalities, measured by per capita GDP, have widened over time consolidating the country’s polarized structure and where restrictive macroeconomic measures as well as regional policy implemented through the Community Support Frameworks appear to have been inadequate in most cases or even to have intensified the above picture. A discussion of future prospects under Greece’s current difficult situation is attempted in the conclusions

The LEADER Programme as a vehicle in promoting social capital in rural regions: a critical assessment and examples from the case of Greece

The ‘new rural paradigm’ in Europe, applied through the Rural Development Programmes (RDPs), places at the centre of academic analysis and policy formation the concept of ‘territorial dynamics’ as an important vehicle for growth in rural regions. The term denotes “specific regional and local factors, structures and tendencies” which would facilitate the creation of ‘smart places’ among EU regions – according to the 2020 EU strategy terminology – competitive on a regional and global scale. As ‘social capital’ lies at the centre of the above intangible elements this paper critically examines the contribution of the LEADER axis in promoting it, through its bottom-up and place-based approach. After a brief presentation of the programme’s philosophy and methods of application, its relationship with social capital elements is established. A discussion follows on the lack of sufficient attention to social capital in conventional evaluation methods of LEADER. LEADER’s efficiency in stimulating aspects of social capital in rural regions is assessed with reference to case studies on Greece, which appears to be a good case for highlighting the difficulties in applying the bottom-up approach in rural regions but also the challenges that this process involves in inducing territorial/regional development. This is due to the country’s low overall level of social capital resulting from a number of structural/social characteristics. The paper concludes with pointing out the need for more in-depth research on this topic so that lessons for local strategies can be drawn

Towards a new European rural development model? An assessment of the EU’s Rural Development Regulation in Greece

This paper attempts to examine if the Rural Development Regulation (RDR), adopted by the Commission in 1999 and hailed as the CAP's second pillar, introduces a new approach in rural development policy making, which implies the merging of rural development with regional policy. For this purpose, the application of regulations' in Greece – an Objective 1 region, with a large and structurally weak farm sector - is assessed. The adopted methodology focuses on the analysis of all instruments through which the regulation is applied, the basic one being the 2000-06 Community Support Framework (CSF), whose targets, actions and sources of financing are compared to programmes of previous periods. The efficiency of the regulation implementation is assessed on the basis of an ex-ante analysis of the current CSF and of a number of structural constraints (e.g. financial, administrative and legal) that have traditionally characterized the implementation of such programmes in Greece. Finally a brief assessment of the role that the major political agents in the agricultural policy-making can play in the promotion of the new rural policy approach is attempted. The conclusions point to the increased chances for efficient implementation of the Regulation through the introduction of the new philosophy in the Greek rural policy-making. The possible negative effects on this development due to the pressure exerted by the new members on the EU budget will probably be offset by the recent reforms proposed by the Commission for a simpler and more coherent rural development programming and management