4.5 Summary
The EU as presently constituted is itself a product of globalisation, and here the impact of globalisation has been heightened by the central institutions of the EU directly encouraging regionalism and cross-border cooperation between regions to further its own political and economic integration.
Regionalism has also been indirectly boosted by other EU policies, particularly the development of the Single European Market since the late 1980s.
Activity 3
What, according to your understanding of this section, are the specifically EU factors which have contributed to the growth of regionalism?
Answer
The argument is that both the EU's regional policies, and what we have called the ‘regional engagements’ of its central institutions, have contributed. The EU has seen its work on the regions as advancing EU cohesion and integration. Meanwhile, regions have seen the EU as a way of gaining, not just resources, but greater autonomy from their existing states.