Europeanization and De-Europeanization of Estonian Regional Policy

Raagmaa, Garri; Kalvet, Tarmo; Kasesalu, Ragne

doi:10.1080/09654313.2013.772754

Cited by 32 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The de‐Europeanization literature is an emerging field, although there remains disagreement over a precise definition. Raagmaa et al (, p. 782) define the process when referring to Estonia's engagement with the European Structural Funds (ESF). In this context it refers to the political establishment declaring that coherence with the EU is not a priority and that a different national interest exists.…”

Section: Europeanization and De‐europeanization In The Context Of Thementioning

confidence: 99%

Europeanization and De‐europeanization in Uk Employment Policy: Changing Governments and Shifting Agendas

Copeland

2016

Public Administration

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This article analyses the UK's engagement with, and the subsequent impact of, the European Employment Strategy (EES). In doing so, it provides an example of the process of Europeanization under the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) in a Eurosceptic centralized polity. Under New Labour (1997–2010) the UK actively engaged to upload its preferences to the European political arena. At the national level, the UK experienced a process of Europeanization that was most evident in the cognitive and procedural dimensions. By contrast, during the coalition government the UK strategically withdrew from the EU governance process and reversed the procedural and cognitive shifts that had occurred under its predecessor. During the coalition government the UK therefore experienced a process of de‐Europeanization. The findings of the article highlight the limitations of OMC‐inspired Europeanization in a setting such as the UK.

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Section: Europeanization and De‐europeanization In The Context Of Thementioning

confidence: 99%

Europeanization and De‐europeanization in Uk Employment Policy: Changing Governments and Shifting Agendas

Copeland

2016

Public Administration

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“…The pre-EU accession period saw a decentralisation in governance, induced by the regionalisation that came with EU Cohesion Policy. Following the accession, this trend reversed and a stronger centralisation occurred again (Raagmaa et al, 2013). Arguably, this was fostered by the emphasis on the absorption of EU funds and ensuring efficient programme delivery.…”

Section: Policy Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ambitious or Ambiguous? The Implications of Smart Specialisation for Core-Periphery Relations in Estonia and Slovakia

Schulz

2019

Baltic Journal of European Studies

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The article explores the implications of the smart specialisation approach on core-periphery relations in Estonia and Slovakia. Despite accounting for one-third of the entire EU budget, Cohesion Policy has produced only modest results in achieving its goal of territorial cohesion between centres and peripheries. This raises the question of the role of Cohesion Policy’s current approach—smart specialisation. By applying the analytical concept of peripheralisation, the article examines how the formulation and implementation of smart specialisation is governed in Estonia and Slovakia, both of which are characterised by large territorial disparities between the capital region and the rest of the country in terms of socio-economic development and participation in decision-making. Specifically, the article explores how the smart specialisation approach is interpreted domestically in terms of strategy formulation, priority-setting and spatial targeting of measures, and whether the particular domestic interpretation of smart specialisation acknowledges the unequal economic and research and innovation potential as well as different institutional capacities of central and peripheral regions. Drawing on extensive document analysis and 20 expert interviews with policy-makers and stakeholders in Estonia and Slovakia, it is argued that while ambitiously promoting an approach of ‘inclusive growth’ for the benefit of all regions, the influence of smart specialisation on core-periphery relations shows to be ambiguous. Fuzzy priority-setting, a lack of strategic and administrative capacities at the regional level and inhibiting policy-making routines discourage and, at times, prevent such a demanding approach. The article concludes that smart specialisation in its current form does not benefit central and peripheral regions equally. Rather, its demands in terms of formulation and implementation are likely to reinforce the disparities between those regions with capacities to handle such an ambitious approach and those regions without such capacities.

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“…Here 'the' European Union is portrayed as main driver of Europeanization while at the same time, member states can still follow their own paths of development (e.g. Raagmaa, Kalvet, and Kasesalu 2014).…”

Section: Metropolization As a Form Of Europeanization?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Metropolitan region policies in the European Union: following national, European or neoliberal agendas?

Lang

Török

2017

International Planning Studies

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The paper depicts the emergence of metropolitan region policies in Europe as being linked to the globalization debate and demonstrates how the idea of supporting metropolitan regions as national growth engines appeared to become not only an element of European regional policy but has appeared more and more in national urban policies as well. We propose to regard the diffusion of the underlying spatial development ideas as being linked to Europeanization processes as a form of transnational socialization and learning. We demonstrate how the urban dimension has been more and more strengthened in EU regional policies since the early 1990s and how influential some national level policies might have been for the European level. Some new member states show recent shifts towards more neoliberal development models arguing for more competitiveness through metropolization. We propose that this interrelates to a general shift towards the paradigm of a regional policy based on growth potentials and competitiveness across the EU. While the cohesion objective is nevertheless maintained, there seems to be a widespread consensus among policy-makers in Europe that to a certain extent the metropolitan paradigm is a logical and unavoidable result of economic transformation and globalization and is needed to achieve overall competitiveness.

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Europeanization and De-Europeanization of Estonian Regional Policy

Cited by 32 publications

References 29 publications

Europeanization and De‐europeanization in Uk Employment Policy: Changing Governments and Shifting Agendas

Europeanization and De‐europeanization in Uk Employment Policy: Changing Governments and Shifting Agendas

Ambitious or Ambiguous? The Implications of Smart Specialisation for Core-Periphery Relations in Estonia and Slovakia

Metropolitan region policies in the European Union: following national, European or neoliberal agendas?

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