The Crises of the European Regions

194 Pages·1983·16.638 MB·English

by  Dudley Seers, Kjell Öström (eds.)

THE CRISES OF THE EUROPEAN REGIONS
Regional disparities have remained conspicuous in Western Europe, many
regions lagging behind in the long postwar boom, and policies to help them have
generally not had much impact. Now this boom is over and they have been hit
particularly hard by the recession, especially those on the continent's periphery
- to both the South and the North.
The book contains studies oft hese regional problems, and ofp olicies adopted
to deal with them in Finland, Sweden, Yugoslavia, Portugal and Spain, written
in each case by a well-known national authority. There are also new theoretical
studies by well-known experts on regional policy: Walter Stohr of Austria,
Costis Hadjimichalis of Greece and John Friedmann of the United States.
The group that produced this book is affiliated to the European Association
of Development Institutes and it raises questions about the possible application
of development theories, derived from the experience in the Third World, to
European problems.
Inequalities between nations (on the world scale) and within them show
certain parallels. As Dudley Seers says in the preface, the 'trickle-down' theory
- which claims that the growth of the rich countries or rich regions would
automatically help the poorer ones-'has become increasingly discredited'. Yet
'the solution is more difficult and more painful than just transferring money'
since aid programmes lead to a parasitic relationship. 'A more fundamental
solution may lie in the opposite direction - increasing self-reliance.'
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The Crises oft he European Regions
Edited by
Dudley Seers
and
Kjell Ostrom
M
in association with
Palgrave Macmillan
© Dudley Seers and Kjell Ostrom 1983
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1983
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without permission
First published 1983 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-1-349-06590-5 ISBN 978-1-349-06588-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-06588-2
Contents
List of Tables vii
List of FigUPes viii
Preface: Regional Problems and Development Theory
Dudley Seers ix
List of Abbreviations xiv
Notes on the Editors and Contributors xv
Introduction KjeU Ostrom 1
1 Alternative Strategies for Integrated Regional
Development of Peripheral Areas Walter B.
Stohr 6
2 Regional Alternatives: the Finnish Case Heikki
Eskelinen 15
3 Regional Development in the Northern Periphery of
Sweden: a Failure? Kjell Ostrom 23
Discussant John M. Bryden 41
4 Regional Disparities in Yugoslavia Jurij Bajec 47
Discussant Kimmo Kiljunen 62
5 Regional Development in Portugal Luis F.
Valente de Oliveira 68
Discussant Jean-Luc Lesage 83
6 Towards a New Regional Policy in Spain Gonzalo
Saenz de BUPuaga 86
Discussant Stefan A. Musto 121
7 Regional Crisis: the State and Regional Social
Movements in Southern Europe Coatis
HadJimichalis 127
v
vi Contents
8 Life Space and Economic Space: Contradictions in
Regional Development John Friedmann 148
Inde~ 163
List of Tables
4.1 Socio-economic indicators for less developed and
more developed regions in Yugoslavia 52
4.2 Data on income and population in Yugoslavia and
its regions 53
6.1 Size and population of territorial entities in
Spain (October 1980) 93
6.2 Spain: territorial modes by executive ministry 102
6.3 Regional incentive subsidies to investment or
employment as a percentage of GDP at market
prices in 1977: Spain and selected members of
the EEC 103
6.4 Annual investment and employment targets of
companies in Spain with SOD! participation 106
vii
List of Figures
3.1 Plan for the regional structure of Sweden 27
3.2 New employment through government grants and
loans in Sweden, 1965-73 29
3.3 Regional development in Sweden: key governmental
instruments, 1965-80 31
5.1 Urban centres in Portugal 70
6.1 System of two pluri-national states with one
nationality in common 90
6.2 Autonomic map of Spain (October 1980) 95
viii
Preface: Regional Problems and
Development Theory
DUDLEY SEERS
This book consists of the papers presented at a conference
organised by the European Periphery Group of the European
Association of Development Institutes (EADI). The Association's
main focus is the field of development studies, which used to
mean studies of the problems of the 'less-developed' or 'under
developed' or (still more euphemistically) 'developing' coun
tries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. This, however, was
not merely patronising but also scientifically indefensible,
since it implied that these countries were facing fundamental
problems which had been solved in Europe - a position much
harder to defend now than a decade ago.
Some of us in the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at
the University of Sussex started in the mid-1970s to work on
the problems of the 'periphery' of Europe, the ring running
round from Greece via Italy and the Iberian Peninsula to
Ireland, Scotland and northern Scandinavia. The periphery shows
technological, economic and political dependency on the centre
of Europe analogous (for example) to that of Canada,Mexico and
the Caribbean on the United States, or indeed the periphery of
the world economy on the industrial countries that form its
core, as in the core-periphery model of Paul Prebisch and other
dependency theorists.
The countries of the European periphery also have internal
features that are familiar in the development field. Some
regions lack full integration and participation in the economic
prosperity of the nation or in its political power structures,
and suffer from an interrelated set of socio-economic charac
teristics - shortages of skills; relatively poor social ser
vices; unbalanced productive structures specialised in primary
products and tourism; local agencies that collaborate with the
centre; net emigration; weak and dependent public authorities.
From another point of view this is a typical list of the char
acteristics of 'developing' countries. One can see, in fact,
in various parts of the world, linked and analogous hierarchies:
Calabria is to Lombardy, in many respects, as Italy is to West
ix