Regional Actor Constellations in EU Cohesion Policy: Differentiation along the Policy Cycle

Abstract

The aim of this article is to offer an empirical description and comparison of governance ar-rangements across different phases of EU cohesion policy and to offer explanations for national and regional variations in the prevalence of governance arrangements in non-Cohesion (Ger-many and Italy), old Cohesion (Greece and Spain), and CEE countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland), covering two regions for each country. Drivers of actor participation on the regional level are often linked to legal and normative requirements regarding the partnership principle. However, we concluded that Europeanization is far from being a straightforward process. The transformation of established vertical power relations within the political system as well as state-society relations at the national and sub-national level in accordance with the partnership principle are mediated by domestic and regional factors – including given respon-sibilities and administrative capabilities of regional government.

Keywords

• EU cohesion policy, partnership principle, multi-level governance, policy networks, implementation