The Evolution of the Regional Development Policies

Abstract

Kuklinski (Kuklinski A. 1987), realized, from an epistemological perspective, a history of the international and interdisciplinary progress in matters of regional policy. According to the authors' conception, an international scientific movement in the domain of regional studies refers to: the examination of the regional studies carried out in different countries to identify the diversity of ideological and intellectual attitudes, the techniques and the motivations. Today this phenomenon must be considered from a new perspective in the framework of a global analysis of the different scientific schools which perceive regional studies in particular and original ways. A scientific school can be defined as all the activities of a well-organized team, capable of producing, in the course of a long period, a series of relatively important and diversified innovations in three domains: a) theory and research methods; b) empirical knowledge of the existing reality; c) creation of tools and policies in order to transform this reality according to the development goals accepted by a determined epoch and in a determined region. The main feature of a scientific school is represented by its capacity to innovate a series of theoretical and empirical studies (Kuklinski A. 1987).

Headnote

Abstract

Kuklinski (Kuklinski A. 1987), realized, from an epistemological perspective, a history of the international and interdisciplinary progress in matters of regional policy.

According to the authors' conception, an international scientific movement in the domain of regional studies refers to: the examination of the regional studies carried out in different countries to identify the diversity of ideological and intellectual attitudes, the techniques and the motivations.

Today this phenomenon must be considered from a new perspective in the framework of a global analysis of the different scientific schools which perceive regional studies in particular and original ways.

A scientific school can be defined as all the activities of a well-organized team, capable of producing, in the course of a long period, a series of relatively important and diversified innovations in three domains:

a) theory and research methods;

b) empirical knowledge of the existing reality;

c) creation of tools and policies in order to transform this reality according to the development goals accepted by a determined epoch and in a determined region.

The main feature of a scientific school is represented by its capacity to innovate a series of theoretical and empirical studies (Kuklinski A. 1987).

Keywords: regional policies, regional development, strategy, economic development, innovations

JEL Classification: O1, Q56, R 58

1. Regional policies: historical milestones of their evolution

During the second half of the 20th century, new challenges emerged in the regional development approaches, related to the substantiation of the regional policies and planning, which, in turn, imposed a change of paradigm by polarizing the interdisciplinary research around two concepts (Kuklinski A. 1987):

* "regional science", originating in the works of Isard (Isard, W. 1975) and of the Regional Science Association created in the year 1954, is a concept based on a modern, quantitative method, of regional analysis, substantiated in regional studies which approach regional development in an interdisciplinary manner, and in empirical studies on regional development, policy and planning issues;

* "regional studies", a concept introduced in Great Britain, in the year 1965, when the Regional Studies Association and the journal Regional Studies were created; the theoretical bases of an international scientific movement in the domain of regional studies were laid by three organisms under the aegis of the United Nations: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD); Centre des Nations Unies pour le développement régional (CNUDR) - Nagoya; Comisión Económica para América Latina (CEPAL) - Santiago de Chile.

Between these two concepts there is a paradigmatic relation if we consider the fact that, on the one hand, they are applied to the same interdisciplinary research domain, and, on the other hand, each of them designates a particular method of analysis and interpretation of regional economy (Kuklinski A. 1987).

Regional policy can be dealt with in a broad sense and in a narrow sense (Kuklinski A. 1987). In a broad (general) sense, regional policy has been there since the beginnings of the State itself and can be defined as "the art of applying different governance principles to the different parts of a country".

In a narrow sense, the concept of regional policy refers to the 20th century reality, where regional policies emerged as an attempt of the public authorities, particularly of the national governments, to reduce the imbalances between the regions by applying special measures, largely in harmony with the regional policy aims and main functions inscribed in legislative texts, elaborated by the public organisms in charge of the design, application and evaluation of these policies.

The first regional policies in a narrow sense emerged in the 1930s, in Western and Central Europe and in North America. In the 1950s and 1960s, almost all the countries adopted and applied the concept of regional policy.

Regional policies evolved as a cyclic phenomenon, characterized by three well delimited stages (Kuklinski A. 1987):

1) First stage: "golden age", covering the expansion period of the years 1950-1975. During this stage, regional policy was justified, in all countries, by the climate of optimism specific of the epoch following the Second World War, when economic growth, industrialization and urbanization increased, yet along with the accentuation of interregional imbalances, which became a major obstacle for regional development. Consequently, in numerous countries, regional policies were elaborated and applied by the interventions of the State, therefore by coordination (dirigisme) and planning.

2) Second stage: "the decline" of regional policies, during the period 1976-1990. The golden age of regional policies came to an end in the 1970s under the effect of the economic crisis triggered in the year 1973 (as a consequence of the oil crisis) or, as Graciarena (Graciarena J. 1978), affirmed, because of the general crisis of the industrial civilization.

In more concrete terms, the present crisis is characterized by: a progressive and irreversible disaggregation of the social and political order lying at the basis of the industrial civilization; growing confusion and ambiguity in the domain of objectives and values; a considerable diminution of the feeling of moral responsibility and of spontaneous consent, which amplifies discord, apathy and social repression; propagation and dominance of decadent and hedonistic lifestyles, the propulsion to consumption being one of their most tangible expressions; a growing distrust in the dominant social models and no solution to replace them.

The regional policies decline is explained by their obvious weaknesses in front of the great inertia of the regional structures. Indeed, regional policies have come to the stage of being applied to a reality resistant to change, while the means used for its transformation were relatively limited (Kuklinski A. 1987).

3) Third stage: "renewal" of the concept of regional policy, triggered in the 1990s. The specialists in this domain explain this emergence of the trend of regional policy renewal by a series of arguments. A first argument refers to the need of promoting new regional policies in order to solve the regional problems that have not disappeared, on the contrary have remained present and have even become more acute in certain countries.

There are four factors of change modifying the old regional problems:

a) technological changes;

b) changes on the labour market and unemployment;

c) changes in matters of ecology and environment;

d) growing awareness of the regional and local identity.

Another argument is related to the assertion according to which regardless of the economic and social system, modern societies cannot live in the long run without indications or interventions of the "invisible hand" of the public powers.

This assertion is particularly true in the sphere of the regional economy where efficient policies are necessary to solve a large number of important problems.

2. The contribution of the great economic theories of regional development

According to Aydalot (Aydalot, P. 1985) four great conceptions were delineated in the specialized works and gave rise to four great theories:

- the theory of the dependence of development on export, founded on external openings;

- the growth poles theory, founded on internal propagation mechanisms;

- the unequal development theories, founded on the inequality of the localized social forces;

- the endogenous development theory, based on local dynamism.

Table 1 presents a synoptic comparison of these four great theoretical trends, confronting them starting from several parameters:

- their period of impetus;

- great authors;

- type of space taken into account; their major ideas;

- main criticisms to each of them.

The first two theories belong to a context of economic growth. The last two, starting with the crises that occurred after the year 1973, answered the need to find solutions to the phenomenon of polarization of the territories.

However, although the last two theories had a remarkable success, it is the first theory that resisted in time (being resumed in many specialized works).

References

Bibliography

Aydalot, P. (1985) Economie régionale et urbaine, Paris, Collection Economie, Economica.

Graciarena J. (1978) Between reality and utopia, the dialectics of social sciences in Latin America, CEPAL Review, Première moitié.

Isard, W. (1975) Introduction to regional science, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N. G.

Kuklinski A. (1987) Les politiques régionales: expériences et perspectives, in Kuklinski A., Dutkiewicy P. et Kobusyewska Jadwiga (éditeurs de la collection) (1989), Développement régional. Développement locale. Autonomie des collectivirés locales en Pologne et en France, Collection Études régionales et locales, Université de Varsovie, Faculté de Géographie et d'Études Régionales, Institut d'Économie Spatiale, Varsovie.