Territorial Governance in Transition

Abstract

In most European countries, there are debates and reform suggestions about how the territorial basis of governance should be reshaped. These changes include a redefinition of the role of the nation-state and a strengthening of lower levels of self-government. There is also an increasing acceptance of diversity, variation and asymmetry and a tendency that the public domain is influenced by the processes of marketization. A combination of structural, ideational and actor based drivers are behind these changes. Some of the patterns that emerge are similar across Europe, but there is also a strong tendency that territorial governance is differentiated to fit specific sub-national preconditions.