The partnership principle in the European Union has often been examined in the context of the emergence of a multi-level type of governance. Recently, a number of studies have focused on the implementation of the European Cohesion Policy in the new member states. They have listed the numerous obstacles to its functioning effectively. However, given the shortfalls, they were not in the position to question the entire range of effects of partnership when it does indeed work. Complementary to this approach, this paper starts from the example of a best-practice, looking at the concrete results of the use of partnership to ensure a place-based approach to regional policies. It uses the example of the East-German Land of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a NUTS II region that benefits from structural funding under the convergence objective. After a brief description of how the partnership principle works on the ground, it examines the conditions of its success. It then analyses its contribution to “good governance”. Lastly, it examines whether this form of partnership rises to the challenge of implementing a place-based approach as defined in the Barca Report. It argues that it neither offers all individuals a chance to become informed and contribute their knowledge or express their preferences about the delivery of projects, which involve the very technical issues of regional development and the disbursement of the structural funds. Nor does it allow control and pressure on policy makers by the citizen. The findings show that, as a consequence, the kind of policies promoted fail to fulfil both the objectives of efficiency and equity.

Résumé : Ces dernières décennies, les cadres d'analyse du fait régional ont été quasi exclusivement construits à partir de cas empiriques ouest-européens. On distingue trois modèles principaux : le courant ethno-territorial constructiviste, la gouvernance multi-niveaux et le néorégionalisme. Sont-ils généralisables à l'Union européenne des vingt-sept ou l'élargissement implique-t-il de revisiter les grilles de lecture du fait régional en Europe ? Après une mise à l'épreuve critique des cadres théoriques ouest-européens sur les terrains de l'Est, cet article introductif présente une série de variables permettant de renouveler les analyses du régionalisme et de la régionalisation dans une Europe élargie.

This paper brings memory and migration studies together. It focuses on the way the past was used in the context of the "refugee crisis" in Germany in 2015/2016. The analysis concentrates on how politicians and journalists used the memory of Germans' own migrations to legitimise rhetorically the political decision to open the borders and let more than a million people into the country, as well as to call for a welcoming attitude (Willkommenskultur) towards the refugees. It shows how, by doing so, they have contributed to the reframing of one of the founding identity narratives of the FRG, namely the one about "flight and expulsion", and thus helped to redraw Germany's identity boundaries in a more inclusive way.

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