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FACTSANDMYTHSOFREGIONALDEVELOPMENT
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cohesionistantamounttotheeliminationofterritorialdisparitiesinthelevel
ofeconomicdevelopment(economiccohesion)andintheaccesstoworkand
income(socialcohesion).Suchanapproachtocohesionhasunderpinnedthe
EUdoctrineofregionalpolicyuntiltodayastheUnionallocatessome60%of
theCohesionPolicyexpenditure(i.e.withouttheCommonAgriculturalPolicy
funds,whicharealsolargelydirectedtoless-developedregions)tosupport
regionswithalowlevelofdevelopment(below75%oftheEU-averageGDPper
capitainpurchasingpowerstandards).
Atthesametime,nearlyinthesamebreath,theneedforcompetitiveness
isreeledoff10(cf.e.g.TheNationalDevelopmentPlan2007–2013,inwhich
cohesionandcompetitivenesswereequivalentgoals).Ifweunderstandcohesion
inequalisingterms,andthereforeforallpracticalpurposesasasynonymfor
convergence,wewillinstantlyseeaninevitableclashbetweenthesetwogoals,
arisingfromtheclassicaldilemmaofregionalpolicy,knownasthedilemmaof
‘equalityorproductivity,.ThisisacknowledgedevenbytheWorldBankwhich,
initslastreport(WB2009,p.2),pointsoutthat:‘geographicunevenness–
thefirstattributeofdevelopment–impliesthatgovernmentsgenerallycannot
simultaneouslyfostereconomicproductionandspreaditoutsmoothly,.Thisis
becauseoftheprincipleofcircularcausalitywhich,aidedbybenefitsofferedby
neighbourhood,leadstoadistinctconcentrationofeconomicactivity.Ineffect,
therefore,accordingtotheauthorsoftheReport,contemporarydevelopmentis
characterisedbythreedimensions:density(localdimensionofconcentration),
distance(betweencentresofconcentration)anddivision(internationally,
ibidem,pp.8–9).
Thestrivingtowardsachievingcohesion,equatedwiththeequalisingof
economicorsocialdisparities,aswellasthosebetweenvariousterritorial
systems,isanunrealistictask,asistheambitiontoattainconvergence.Does
thismean,however,thatthenotionofcohesion,towhichterritorialcohesion
hasbeenaddedrecently(ifonlyverballyforthetimebeing)shouldberefuted?
Thiswouldbeunwarrantedbecauseithasaprofoundmeaning,whichhowever
shouldberearticulated.
Whilstconvergencecanbeunderstoodasaprocessintendedtobringcloser
staticconditions(capturedatspecificpointsintime),cohesionshouldbelooked
atasafeatureofprocessestakingplaceattimeintervals.Bythistoken,theseare
termswhichrefertodifferentcategoriesusedforthedescriptionofeconomic,
socialandspatialprocesses.Giventhis,the‘equalityorproductivity,dilemma
shouldberelatedtothecontradictionbetweengrowthandconvergence.
10Whileitisfairlyeasytodefinewhat‘competitiveness,meansforenterprises,thisisamuch
moredemandingtaskinthecaseofregionsorcountries.Inourdiscussion,theregion,scom-
petitvenessisunderstoodtomeanitsabilitytowinintheglobalgameforcapital(particularly
innovation-generatingcapital)andcreationofsuchconditionsfortheregion,sbusinesseswhich
givethemacompetitiveedge.Inasense,thesearetwosidesofthesamecoin,eitherofthesetwo
dimensionsofcompetitivenessisdependentontheother,andtheymutuallysupporteachother.
