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Core–Periphery Relations in the European Union and the Role of Central Places in Europe with a Focus on Regional Policy in Britain and Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2013

Bennett C. Thomas*
Affiliation:
1604 21st Avenue NE, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2M 1M. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Core–periphery analysis is vital to an understanding of the European Union (EU) and regional development. The European Economic Community (EEC), which would eventually become the EU, was formed in 1957 in order to promote progressive economic integration. Recognizing that there were depressed regions within both peripheral and core nation-states, the EC adopted a programme with the goal of bringing those regions into convergence. Its programme is essentially a liberal centre–periphery model similar to the one proposed by Friedman. Many of the nation-states within the EC also have their own regional policies and programmes regarding intervention within their own spatial boundaries. To present an approach for comparison this article will focus on two examples of regional policy: Britain's attitude toward regional development in the North and the German programme for integrating East Germany.

Type
Focus: Core–Periphery
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 2013 

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