The shift to the region: scalar politics versus the circulation of regional policy issues.

Europe has recently witnessed a proliferation of regional governance regimes. This development is accompanied by a transfer of (parts of) policy domains and political power from national and local levels to the regional level, and increased involvement of non-public actors in regional coalitions and partnership arrangements. So far, much of the regional phenomenon has been explained in terms of scalar and spatial politics. Yet, this does not seem to offer a satisfactory explanation of the specific forms regional governance has adopted and, in particular, the variation in forms. This project puts forward an additional explanation, namely the impact of substantive notions of the region in terms of its significance for competitiveness, sustainability and strategic spatial planning. Focusing on recent developments in England, France and the Netherlands, the project will focus on how such ideas, as part of the development of policy agendas at different levels, shape the development of regional governance, alongside, and in conjunction with, processes of political (re)scaling.