Uneven Regional Development: The European Union and its New Member States

Many regions will join the EU after eastern enlargement with incomes far below the EU average. This book attempts to show that the catching-up of these regions to the EU average income cannot be achieved by market forces alone. Rather, successful regional development is a complex process involving actors and institutions on the regional, national, and international level. Thus, regional growth will not only depend on the governance capacities of regions, but also on institutional frameworks set by the nation state and the EU as well as investment decisions of multinational enterprises.