By Simona Piattoni and Laura Polverari (editors)
A new 'Handbook on Cohesion Policy in the EU', edited by Professor Simona Piattoni (University of Trento) and Laura Polverari (of EPRC) has just been published by Edward Elgar.
The contributions combine world-renowned scholars and country experts to discuss, in five parts, the policy’s history and governing principles; the theoretical approaches from which it can be assessed; the inter-institutional and multi-level dynamics that it elicits; its practical implementation and impact on EU member states; its interactions with other EU policies and strategies; and the cognitive maps and narratives with which it can be associated. Contributors include EPRC's Professor John Bachtler and Carlos Mendez.
This Handbook will be an invaluable resource to students and scholars of EU policies and politics and other related disciplines. In particular, they will benefit from the clarity with which the history and functioning of Cohesion policy is laid out. Policy-makers and other practitioners will also find this book of interest, due to its presentation of relevant debates.
‘Simona Piattoni and Laura Polverari have collected a superb group of experts to take stock of the history, political dynamics, and effects of EU Cohesion policy—thirty years after its launch by Jacques Delors’ administration. The book is an interdisciplinary tour de force that examines how EU Cohesion policy has indelibly shaped multilevel governance in the European Union. Cohesion policy was intended to shake up the status quo because it sought to mobilize “les forces vives” outside the national capitals. It remains, until today, a highly political enterprise that generates cooperation and competition among cities and regions; affects territorial relations within as well as across member states; and constrains choice in a variety of sectoral policies. This is a definitive statement on one of Europe’s most transformative policies.’ – Liesbet Hooghe, University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, US.
The full table of contents can be viewed from this link: http://www.e-elgar.com/shop/handbook-on-cohesion-policy-in-the-eu
The introduction and first chapter (The history of Cohesion policy') can be accessed for free from this link: http://www.e-elgar.com/shop/eep/preview/book/isbn/9781784715670/
