Publication of a book ‘Public Policies for Territorial Cohesion’ by Eduardo Medeiros and collective of authors

Eduardo Medeiros and a collective of authors published a very interesting and useful book with title, ‘Public Policies for Territorial Cohesion‘ that analyses the issues around territorial cohesion. The book aims to offer a profound critical research of territorial cohesion. It looks at the role of public policies that foster the process of territorial cohesion, its achievements and deficiencies. As the introduction underlines, the book offers a “novel and more comprehensive analysis of territorial cohesion.” (p. vii.) 

The basic structure of the book is divided into five parts. The first part analyses the national public policies for territorial cohesion. Socio-economic development and socio-economic cohesion is the object of the second part. The third part addresses the topic of environmental sustainability in an age of global warming and environmental challenges. Urban-related policies and cohesive territories are researched in the fourth part, while the final part of the book introduces two recognised processes of territorial development. 

The neo-liberal economic change in the 20th century has profoundly influenced the socio-economic development and environment of the world. The new economic orientation introduced a massive logic of ceaseless economic rivalry between states, regions and cities; however, this socio-economic environment directly deepened the uneven territorial development. The book underlines this reality in the following way, “the limited neoliberal mainstream ‘growth’ rationale of regional, national, EU and global development strategies and policies does not necessarily benefit all citizens and territories.” (p. 211.) 

Unfortunately, the phenomenon of huge regional differences was unleased and became an everyday reality for major parts of the world. Subsequently, the less developed territories have suddenly started to experience a strong ‘pressure to follow’ and/or ‘to mimicry’ the more developed territories. Furthermore, the last EU enlargements of the past two decades brought the Central and Eastern European countries into the integration frame; although, the new member states have further aggravated the magnitude of the issue of territorial differences between states and regions. 

Subsequently, the uneven territorial development within the same integrating community can undermine the integration itself, it can eliminate mutual trust; hence the European Union needed to come up with a specific mechanism which is armoured with the capacity to relieve the tension from territorial disparity, namely territorial cohesion and the cohesion policy have been established with this hard task. 

The book offers a very wide approach toward the issue of territorial cohesion, like chronological explanation and narrative formation of territorial cohesion; the relation between the post-2000 EU mainstream strategic development agendas and territorial cohesion; analysis of the tool of the European Recovery and Resilience Facility and its cohesive and territorial impact; the issue of social protection in Portuguese rural territories; the role of civil society and non-profit organizations within the frame of territorial cohesion; an environmental critical approach with articulating the need to move beyond the economic growth paradigm and the need for a fundamental transformation of the underlying growth-oriented epistemologies and ontologies that shape EU cohesion policy thinking; presentation of a multi-scalar approach emphasizing that regions of the EU are extremely diverse and every region is equipped with own specific characteristics and attributes, hence there is no one-size-fits-all solution to achieve sustainable cohesion; analyses of territorial cohesion and its evolvement as a tool in urban and regional planning and emphasizing that implementation of territorial cohesion as a business-as-usual model is flawed and it needs to be remedied; 21st century is a new reality and the new realities must be recognized and integrated into the frame of territorial cohesion, like the issue of digital connectivity, digital economy or energy transition; or the characterization of ‘classic’ territorial instruments, like Interreg and/or EGTCs and their role to heal the ‘scars of History’ and their important role during covidfencing. 

Gyula Ocskay (Secretary General of CESCI) and James W. Scott (Chief-in-chief of the annual scientific publication of CESCI, namely ‘Cross-Border Review’) have a separate chapter in the book about the issue of cross-territorial governance via EGTCs. According to the authors, institutional sustainability, reliability and legal personality of the EGTCs appear as a significant added value, hence “EGTC can effectively contribute to the Europeanisation of cross-national spaces” (p. 202), thus mitigating the border barrier effects and valorising the territorial capital of the borderland. 

What is more, CESCI is mentioned twice in the book, in the chapter of Martín Guillermo-Ramírez on territorial cooperation for European cohesion. The first mentioning is in relation with the ECBM instrument where CESCI is mentioned, along with the MOT and AEBR as key stakeholders in developing the instrument (p. 182.). The second mentioning underlines that some organisations and institutions, including CESCI, know very well the benefits of European territorial cohesion.