The main objective of the book is to identify and evaluate the major changes in the Cohesion Policy of the European Union and their effects on Polish regions for the period of 2014 - 2020. The reader will learn how these changes result from the successful agreement on the Multiannual Financial Framework and implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy. Based on these aspects, the authors describe the main change in the Cohesion Policy of the EU, which is the renewed focus on competitiveness and skills to compete within the EU internal and the global market. The territorial approach taken by the EU with respect to entrepreneurial competitiveness is directly linked to the location attractiveness of regions. The authors argue that the new paradigm of the EU' s Cohesion Policy will strengthen the focus on location attractiveness. To illustrate this case, they analyze Poland as one of the most appropriate and relevant Member States to evaluate the new rules underlying EU policies for 2014 - 2020, as Poland is the largest net-beneficiary of the EU budget.

This new text introduces the history, evolution and contemporary state of one of the European Union's most important, expensive and controversial policies. It examines the role that cohesion policy plays in European integration, as well as in economic development across regions, and analyzes the key debates and issues at stake.

This Handbook covers all major aspects of EU Cohesion policy, one of the most significant areas of intervention of the European Union. Over five parts, It discusses this policy’s history and governing principles; the theoretical approaches from which it can be assessed; the inter-institutional and multi-level dynamics that it tends to elicit; its practical implementation and impact on EU member states; its interactions with other EU policies and strategies; and the cognitive maps and narratives with which it can be associated. An absolute must for all students of the EU.

Despite the non-territorialised strategic goals of the EU 2020 Strategy, the long-term aim of EU Cohesion Policy to promote harmonious development of the European territory – social, economic, and ‘territorial cohesion’ – remains a central goal of achieving a more cohesive EU territory. This book examines the ‘territorial dimension’ of EU Cohesion Policy, specifically assessing territorial impacts at the various spatial levels, engaging theoretically and empirically with the notion and role of the ‘territorial dimension’ within a strongly fragmented EU policymaking process, and examining more generally EU Cohesion Policy, as the main driver of the EU territorial development process. It provides an updated and fresh theoretical discussion on the precise meaning of the ‘territorial dimension’ of policies and the relatively recent EU policy evaluation technique, known as ‘Territorial Impact Assessment’ (TIA). Assessing the history, relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of these procedures, it presents several empirical findings on the implementation of specific territorial-focus and place-based financial instruments, as part of the Territorial Agendas and the EU goal of achieving a more integrated, territorial approach. This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners of spatial planning and cohesion policy, European sector policies and European spatial planning, and more broadly to European and EU studies/politics, regional economic geography and public policy.

Regional development strategies are becoming more similar all around Europe, even though regional differences are more pronounced than ever and many European regions have become more autonomous actors. This thesis of a peculiar standardized diversification of sub-national space in the modern European Union is the point of departure of this book. Based upon the analytical premises of Stanford School Sociological Institutionalism, Sebastian M. Büttner studies regional mobilization in contemporary Europe from a new and innovative perspective. He highlights the importance of scientific expertise and global scientific models in contemporary regional development practice, and exemplifies their significance with the example of region-building in Poland in the course of EU integration. This new wave of regional mobilization is not just conceived as an effect of local, national or European politics, but as an expression of a larger conceptual shift in governing society and space. This well researched and clearly argued book not only provides fresh insights into region-building and regionalization in contemporary European space, but also contributes to the new sociology of Europeanization. It will be an illuminating read for scholars and students in Sociology, European and EU studies, International Relations, Cultural Studies, Geography, Regional Science, Polish Studies and related subject areas.

It has become apparent that a clear gap exists between European Union (EU) level policymaking and Member State implementation. Previous research has neglected to fully define factors that encourage or prevent implementation processes and instead focused on upstream decision making processes or downstream effects of policy. Simona Milio here proposes a shift in analytical focus towards policy-implementation since this constitutes a crucial common pathway that determines whether a policy actually becomes effective or not. EU implementation deficits appear to be influenced by problems related to the multi-level structure of European policy making. Successful implementation will only occur if relevant policy actors at national and sub-national levels are persuaded to co-operate with EU policy goals. Furthermore, this co-operation is not possible unless all parties manage the complex policy networks and implementation regimes responsible for putting European policies into force. Within this framework, this book answers three important questions: 1 Is the EU multi-level governance system weakening the implementation of policies? 2 Are national and sub-national governments capable of dealing with the challenges imposed by multi-level governance? 3 Which factors account for differences in implementation performance among Member States? In order to answer these questions, Simona Milio's research explores the influence of two variables on implementation processes: Administrative Capacity and Political Stability. Cohesion Policy is chosen as the focus of this study since it has demonstrated a dramatically different implementation pace among EU Member States over the past 20 years. Three EU Member States are chosen to test the hypothesis. Italy appears to be a pertinent example, given its constant struggle to conform to EU directives and to implement Cohesion Policy. Spain is chosen since, in contrast to the Italian scenario, it represents the best performing Member State in terms of implementation. Finally Poland is studied, as a case where a shift from centralization towards decentralization has occurred in order to implement Cohesion Policy and integrate the multi-level governance system.

Ideal for students and practitioners working in spatial planning, the Europeanization of planning agendas and regional policy in general Spatial Planning Systems and Practices in Europe develops a systematic methodological framework to analyze changes in planning systems throughout Europe. The main aim of the book is to delineate the coexistence of continuity and change and of convergence and divergence with regard to planning practices across Europe. Based on the work of experts on spatial planning from twelve European countries the authors underline the specific and context-dependent variety and disparateness of planning transformation, focusing on the main objectives of the changes, the driving forces behind them and the main phases and turning points, the main agenda setting actors, and the different planning modes and tools reflected in the different "policy and planning styles". Along with a methodological framework the book includes twelve country case studies and the comparative conclusions covering a variety of planning systems of EU member states. According to the four "ideal types" of planning systems identified in the EU Compendium, at least two countries have been selected from each of the four different planning traditions: regional-economic (France, Germany), Urbanism (Greece, Italy), comprehensive/integrated (Denmark ,Finland, Netherlands, Germany), "land use planning" (UK, Czech Republic, Belgium/Flanders), along with two additional case studies focusing on the recent developments in eastern European countries by looking at Poland and in southern Europe looking at Turkey.

This edited volume analyses and discusses the systematisation of Polish socio-economic transformations of the last three decades using selected examples of the most important changes. 1989 marked the onset of the political transformation process in Poland and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The transition involved a shift from a socialist system to a parliamentary democracy and from a command economy to a market one. Due to the deep economic crisis that culminated in 1988 and the peaceful model of change developed and implemented in Poland, the magnitude and manner of implementing various initiatives was unprecedented and had specific implications. This transformation opened Polish society and the Polish economy to the impact of global social and economic changes, triggering successive transformations, often overlapping in terms of their causes and consequences. This publication aims to present the course and effects, in particular territorial, of Poland's socio-economic transformation in the years 1990–2020. The analysis covers the key aspects of this transformation, illustrated with references to the concepts and theories of development, domestic and foreign literature, own empirical research and existing or newly developed model approaches to transformation in the territorial dimension. The book appeals to researchers and student in the fields of geography, spatial management, economics and business, sociology and political sciences, public and private economic research institutes, employees of governmental bodies and corporations, consultants in public administration, journalists and policymakers.

EU Cohesion policy accounts for a major share of the EU budget and is central to economic and social development in many European countries. This book provides a comprehensive and theoretically-informed analysis of how Cohesion policy has evolved over time, in particular the budgetary and policy dynamics of the 2007-13 reform. In the context of the budgetary politics of the EU, the book examines the process by which the reform of Cohesion policy has been shaped; it identifies the key factors that explain the allocation of funding, assesses the roles of the Member States, European Commission and European Parliament, and tests whether the process and outcome are consistent with the expectations of EU decision-making and integration theories. Based on extensive, EU-wide research over a ten-year period, the book provides new insights into both the process and outcomes of EU policy reform. Presenting original research in an accessible format, this book will be of interest to scholars as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students in the fields of European integration and policy studies.