Political Science 387, The Europe of Regions

Spring Term 2002

SYLLABUS

This research seminar will examine the issues facing subnational polities and economies as they deal with the project of European integration. Economic and institutional change during the last twenty years have, in most subnational regions, fundamentally challenged centuries-old development patterns and cultures based on them. Some European regions have coped by producing innovative responses to these changes, while others have been less successful. The course will investigate the diverse paths of the European regions with an emphasis on the role of EU regional policy and subnational political economy.

The focus of this course is to prepare students for the independent study component (POSC 392), which will be based on four research teams of 5-6 students apiece. Having received instruction in the theoretical, empirical, and methodological aspects of comparative subnational political economy in Europe, each student research team will (a) prepare our visit to one of four regional cases in France or Spain during the "on the road" segment, (b) compare the regional political economy of their case to one other from the program, (c) prepare a 13-15 page group report based on the comparison and (d) orally present the group’s findings at the Center for European Studies (CES) in Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Students will be expected to read, think, criticize, and form arguments. That means that students must keep up in their reading assignments and attend class regularly. Students must be fully prepared at all times to discuss the readings and concepts from previous lectures. The best students will be critical but balanced in their assessments, and will develop coherent arguments that they can defend in their writing and their in-class discussion.

Reading Materials

This course uses a reader containing a complete compilation of all of the required readings. In addition to the course reader, I will distribute copies of relevant articles from the International Herald Tribune, Financial Times, and The Economist.

Grading

Assessment of the students in this course will be based on their performance on the group research project and class participation. Each individual student will receive an equal share of the group grade given to their research team based on overall performance. The grade breakdown follows:

Attendance in this course is mandatory. Each student will be expected to take careful notes and to prepare for each class discussion, which may take place at CES, "on the road" (i.e., on the French TGV, a bus, hotel, or café). Students are required to be up on the reading and to be able to discuss these readings in detail.

Each research team will prepare key elements of our visit to one of four regionial cases selected for the 2002 Maastricht Program: (A) Lorraine, France, (B) Toulouse, France, (C), Catalonia, Spain, or (D) Valencia, Spain. Once selected, the group must read all of the required texts on their selected region and begin the process of searching for additional textual information at Maastricht University, the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA), the internet, and during our visits to EU offices (whenever possible) in Brussels, Strasbourg, and Luxembourg. Each team will use this information to select sites for the program to visit in their selected region. The team may select multiple sites and instruct the program on how to distribute students if visits occur concurrently. Site visits must be organized through contacts and students must do all the key logistical work to acquire transportation, prepare interview subjects, follow-through with the visit, and then brief the rest of the program participants during evening discussion sections. Prof. Montero will arrange for all transport and hotel accommodations and provide funds to cover transport costs to sites at approved locations.

After a period of study and compilation of other materials, each research team will present their findings in both an oral and written form. Oral presentations will be scheduled for the ninth week of the program at CES. Research Reports will be due no later than 3 p.m. on Friday, May 31.

I will be using the following grading scale in this course:

98-100 A+
94-97 A
91-93 A-
88-90 B+
83-87 B
79-82 B-
76-78 C+
72-75 C
68-71 C-
67/below D/F

Given the fact that academe relies upon the ethical conduct of scholars, students are held to the same standards in their own work. Any act of academic dishonesty or misconduct will be referred to the Office of the Dean. For further information, see Carleton College’s Academic Honesty in the Writing of Essays and Other Papers and the section on "academic honesty" in Academic Regulations and Procedures, 2001-02. Both are available in Laird 140.

Students requiring access to learning tools/special schedules approved by Student Support Services should contact me at the beginning of the course.

NOTE: Readings must be completed for the dates assigned below.

Thursday April 4: Overview of the Europe of Regions Seminar Project

Washington Post, "Old World, New Economy: Technology, Entrepreneurship Are Transforming Europe," February 18, 2001.

Ash Amin and Nigel Thrift, "Institutional Issues for the European Regions: From Markets and Plans to Socioeconomics and Powers of Association," Economy and Society 24:1 (February, 1995): 41-66.

Wednesday April 10: Theoretical and Comparative Approaches to Subnational Political Economy in Europe

Robert Boyer and J. Rogers Hollingsworth, "From National Embeddedness to Spatial and Institutional Nestedness," in J. Rogers Hollingsworth and Robert Boyer, eds. Contemporary Capitalism: The Embeddedness of Institutions (Cambridge University Press, 1997).

Mick Dunford, "State-Industry Relations, Inter-Firm Relations and Regional Development," Geography 74:1 (January, 1989): 20-28.

Michael E. Porter, The Competitive Advantage of Nations (The Free Press, 1990), Chapter 4. "The Dynamics of National Advantage."

Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks, Multi-Level Governance and European Integration (Rowman and Littlefield, 2001), Chapter 1. "Multi-Level Governance in the European Union."

Ray Hudson, "Contesting Works Closures in Western Europe’s Old Industrial Regions: Defending Place or Betraying Class?" in Allen J. Scott and Michael Storper, eds. Production, Work, Territory: The Geographical Anatomy of Industrial Capitalism (Allen & Unwin, 1986).

Charles Sabel, "Flexible Specialisation and the Re-emergence of Regional Economies," in Paul Hirst and Jonathan Zeitlin, eds. Reversing Industrial Decline? Industrial Structure and Policy in Britain and Her Competitors (St. Martin’s Press, 1989).

Wednesday April 17: Policy-making in a Multi-Level European Union

Tanja A. Börzel, "Europeanization and Territorial Institutional Change: Toward Cooperative Regionalism?" in Maria Green Cowles, James Caporaso, and Thomas Risse, eds. Transforming Europe: Europeanization and Domestic Change (Cornell University Press, 2001).

Michael Keating and Liesbet Hooghe, "By-passing the Nation State? Regions and the EU Policy Process," in Jeremy J. Richardson, ed. European Union: Power and Policy-Making (Routledge, 1996).

Gary Marks, François Nielsen, Leonard Ray, and Jane Salk, "Competencies, Cracks and Conflicts: Regional Mobilization in the European Union," in Gary Marks, Fritz W. Scharpf, Philippe C. Schmitter, and Wolfgang Streeck, eds. Governance in the European Union (Sage, 1996).

Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks, Multi-Level Governance and European Integration (Rowman and Littlefield, 2001), Chapters 5-7.

Jeffrey J. Anderson, "Skeptical Reflections on a Europe of Regions: Britain, Germany, and the ERDF," Journal of Public Policy 10:4: 417-447.

David Allen, "Cohesion and the Structural Funds: Transfers and Trade-Offs," in Helen Wallace and William Wallace, eds. Policy-Making in the European Union, 4^th Ed. (Oxford, 2000).

Monday April 22 - Friday April 26: Regional Cases I

Lloyd Rodwin, "European Industrial Change and Regional Economic Transformation: An Overview of Recent Experience," in Lloyd Rodwin and Hidehiko Sazanami, eds. Industrial Change and Regional Economic Transformation: The Experience of Western Europe (Harper Collins, 1991).

Paul Cheshire, "Politics of Regional Transformation and Deindustrialization in the European Community," in Lloyd Rodwin and Hidehiko Sazanami, eds. Industrial Change and Regional Economic Transformation: The Experience of Western Europe (Harper Collins, 1991).

Alfred P. Montero, Shifting States in Global Markets (Penn State University Press), Ch. 4.

Wednesday May 1: Regional Cases II

Choose three country cases from the following reading materials:

Charlie Jeffery, ed. The Regional Dimension of the European Union: Towards a Third Level in Europe? (Frank Cass, 1997): Belgium (Kerremans and Beyers), Germany (Jeffery), Italy (Desideri and Santantonio), France (Smith), the U.K. (John).

Patrick Le Galès and Christian Lequesne, eds. Regions in Europe (Routledge, 1998): Germany (Benz), the Netherlands (Toonen), Italy (Bagnasco and Oberti), Spain (Genieys), France (Balme), Belgium (de Rynck), the U.K. (Mawson).

Overview of the French Experience

The Economist, "A Survey of France: The Grand Illusion," June 5, 1999.

Jonah Levy, Tocqueville's Revenge: State, Society and Economy in Contemporary France (Harvard University Press, 1999), chapters 2-3.

Ian Scargill, "Regional Inequality in France: Persistence and Change," Geography 76:10 (October, 1991): 343-357.

Loïc Grasland, "The Search for an International Position in the Creation of a Regional Technological Space: The Example of Montpellier," Urban Studies 29:6 (1992): 1003-1010.

The Case of Lorraine, France

Internet sources and possible contacts.

Ifor Evans, "Powerhouse in Decline," The Geographical Magazine 59:2 (February, 1987): 78-83.

Philippe Méhaut and Marie-Claire Villeval, "Lorraine, France: Labour Standards and Economic Reconversion," in Werner Sengenberger and Duncan Campbell, eds. Creating Economic Opportunities: The Role of Labour Standards in Industrial Restructuring (International Institute for Labour Studies, 1994).

The Economist, "Coal, With Luck, Into Cars," December 4, 1999, p. 53.

Étienne Criqui, "L’Évolution du paysage politique lorrain: La Lorraine est-elle encore a droite?," in Étienne Criqui, ed. Les forces politiques en Lorraine (Presses Universitaires de Nancy, 1992).

The Case of Toulouse, France

Internet sources and possible contacts.

Claude Dupuy and Jean-Pierre Gilly, "Industrial Groups and Territories: The Case of Matra-Marconi-Space in Toulouse," Cambridge Journal of Economics 23 (1999): 207-233.

The Economist, "Psst, Wanna Buy an Airbus?" October 21, 2000, p. 74.

Jean-Yves Nevers, "Du clinetélisme a la technocratie: Cent ans de démocratie communale dans une grande ville, Toulouse," Revue Française de Science Politique 33:3 (1983): 428-454.

Overview of the Spanish Experience

The Economist, "A Survey of Spain: A Country of Many Faces," November 25, 2000.

Alfred P. Montero, Shifting States in Global Markets (Penn State University Press), Ch. 2 (selections)

Juan R. Cuadrado Roura, "Structural Changes in the Spanish Economy: Their Regional Effects," in Lloyd Rodwin and Hidehiko Sazanami, eds. Industrial Change and Regional Economic Transformation: The Experience of Western Europe (Harper Collins, 1991).

Francesc Morata, "Regions and the European Community: A Comparative Analysis of Four Spanish Regions," in Robert Leonardi, ed. The Regions and the European Community: The Regional Response to the Single Market (Frank Cass, 1993).

Hiram A. Ramírez-Rangel, "Nonprofits for Profit: Successful Structures for Interfirm Collaboration in Spain," Paper presented at the Third Meeting of the International Working Group on Subnational Economic Governance in Latin America from a Comparative International Perspective, August 25-28, 2000.

Álvaro Espina Montero, "Los sistemas productivos locales y el cambio estructural: el caso de España," Información Comercial Española 754 (June, 1996): 96-114.

The Case of Catalonia, Spain

Internet sources and possible contacts.

Far Eastern Economic Review "Catalonia: Helping Power Spain's Economy." Dec. 16, 1993.

The New Statesman "Spain's Local Success." Sept. 5, 1997.

Josep Baiges, "Notas sobre el Sector Industrial en Cataluña," Economía Industrial 263-264 (Sept.-Dec. 1988): 167-188.

Josep M. Carrau, "La demanda exterior revitaliza la economía catalana en 1994," Papeles de Economía Española 64 (1995): 167-178.

David D. Laitin, Carlota Sole, and Stathis N. Kalyvas, "Language and the Construction of States: The Case of Catalonia in Spain," Politics and Society 22:1 (March 1994): 5-29.

Montserrat Guibernau, "Nationalism and Intellectuals in Nations Without States: The Catalan Case," Political Studies 48 (2000): 989-1005.

The Case of Valencia, Spain

Alfred P. Montero, Shifting States in Global Markets (Penn State University Press), pp. 190-192

J.M. Casado-Diaz, "Local Labour Market Areas in Spain: A Case Study," Regional Studies 34:9 (Dec. 2000).

Francisco Más, "Enterprise Support Structures in Spain: The Case of Valencia," unpublished paper, September 1995.

Seminar Main Page  

Updated Feb. 22, 2002 by Tricia Peterson <tpeterso@carleton.edu>