There is a high research and political interest in regional disparities now. Regional disparities are at the heart of prominent theories of regional development as well as of the ambitious project of European integration. Moreover, regional policies at various spatial levels are formulated in...

There is a high research and political interest in regional disparities now. Regional disparities are at the heart of prominent theories of regional development as well as of the ambitious project of European integration. Moreover, regional policies at various spatial levels are formulated in...

This paper deals with the spatial relationship between national and European regional policies. Spatial coherence of these two types of policies in two CEE countries – in the Czech Republic and Slovakia – is discussed. Our findings point at a higher spatial coherence of national and European...

This paper deals with the relationship between regional disparities and financing of regional policy. The Czech Republic and the Convergence goal of cohesion policy were chosen as a case study. Four themes are discussed in this regard. First, the spatial distribution of funds is analyzed with...

The cohesion policy of the European Union represents a significant part of its budget and delivers interventions across all regions of the EU. There is little consensus on its efficiency, and its links to fostering convergence on the regional level are uncertain. Nevertheless, regions were shown...

The main objective of this work is to review the recent achievements on the mechanisms explaining local and rural development, which underpin the current definition of rural areas in the European literature. The analysis carried out in this article acknowledges a gap between local development...

Cluster policy has become a method of choice for policymakers in many countries. Promoting strong localized industries is an appealing perspective for practitioners, as it can be seen as a way to anchor economic activity in regions in an era of globalization. If cluster policy is successful, it...

During the last decade issues such as growth and convergence, core-periphery structures, and regional development have come to the forefront in policy circles. At the same time as political concerns about regional development increased, new theories of economic growth and economic geography were...

The idea of smart specialisation has gained high prominence in the discourse about EU regional policy. In the coming program period from 2014 to 2020 it is expected to be a major pillar of EU structural funds. The notion of smart specialisation incorporates some basic principles of evolutionary...