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RegionalandLocalStudies
specialissue2010
ISSN1509–4995
GrzegorzGorzelak*
FactsandmythsoFregionaldevelopment1
Thepapercriticallydiscussesseveralwidespreadviewsaboutregionaldevelopmentandhow
itcanbestimulatedbyregionalpolicy.Itisarguedthatinthecurrentdevelopmentparadigmit
isneitherpossiblenorexpedienttoachieveregionalconvergence,whichineffectwouldleadto
adeepchangeinunderstandingtheveryassumptionsoftheEUCohesionpolicy.Itisindicatedthat
externalstimulidonotleadtoanacceleratedgrowthinlaggingregions,whichisespeciallytrue
inthecaseofinfrastructuralprojects,especiallythosewhicharerelatedtoincidentalevents,like
expositionsorsportschampionships.Oneofthemostbroadlyusedmodelsforanexanteevaluation
–theHERMINmodel–isalsodiscussed.
Today,regionalissueshavebecomemajorcomponentsofdevelopment
policies.Itisnotonlycentralandregionallevelpoliticiansorlocalgovernment
representativeswhoshowaninterestinthem,andquiteunderstandablyso,in
viewofthefactthattheseissueslieatthecoreoftheirprofessionalduties,
butalsocitizensthemselves,whofollowpresscoverageandnewsreports
aboutprogrammes,projectsandtheinfluxofthe‘EU,fundsallocatedtotheir
region,someofthembeingalsointerestedinthedevelopmentstrategiesoftheir
voivodship(region),cityormunicipality.
Thisisoftenaccompaniedbyintenseemotionsthatreadersgiveventtoin
theircommentsonInternetforumsorinletterstotheeditor.Suchreactions
aretotallyunderstandable.AlthoughsociologicalstudiesrevealthatPoland,s
citizensdonotalwaysdemonstrateastrongidentificationwiththeirregion
(Jałowiecki1996),theyseeinthestatepolicydeterminingthefunds,allocation
betweenindividualregions,opportunitiesforthemselves,orthreats,ifintheir
opinion,thedecisionsmadearenotsufficientlygenerousfortheirregion.
However,theso-calledmaninthestreetcannotbeexpectedtopossessexpert
knowledgeaboutthemechanismsandprinciplesofregionaldevelopment,nor
abouttheassumptionsandrulesgoverningtheregionalpoliciesoftheEuropean
Union,Polandorindividualregions.However,regionalpolicymakersshouldbe
privytosuchknowledgebecause–asthewell-knownsayinghasit–‘thereis
nothingmorepracticalthanagoodtheory,.Knowledgeoftheory,notleastthe
lessonsdrawnfromtheconsequencesoftheprojectsplannedwithintheframe
ofregionalpolicy,isapreconditionfortheformulationofproperpolicygoals
andtakingrationalstepsaimedatachievingsuchgoals.
*CentreforEuropeanRegionalandLocalStudies,UniversityofWarsaw.
1ThispaperwasoriginalypublishedintheZarządzaniePublicznequarterly2008,No.4(6).
