Governing Europes Spaces

The past thirty years have seen a proliferation of new forms of territorial governance that have come to co-exist with, and complement, formal territorial spaces of government. These governance experiments have resulted in the creation of soft spaces, new geographies with blurred boundaries that eschew existing political-territorial boundaries of elected tiers of government. The emergence of new, non-statutory or informal spaces can be found at multiple levels across Europe, in a variety of circumstances, and with diverse aims and rationales. This book moves beyond theory to examine the practice of soft spaces. It employs an empirical approach to better understand the various practices and rationalities of soft spaces and how they manifest themselves in different planning contexts. By looking at the effects of new forms of spatial governance and the role of spatial planning in North-western Europe, this book analyses discursive changes in planning policies in selected metropolitan areas and cross-border regions. The result is an exploration of how these processes influence the emergence of soft spaces, governance arrangements and the role of statutory planning in different contexts. This book provides a deeper understanding of space and place, territorial governance and network governance.

The past thirty years have seen a proliferation of new forms of territorial governance that have come to co-exist with, and complement, formal territorial spaces of government. These governance experiments have resulted in the creation of soft spaces, new geographies with blurred boundaries that eschew existing political-territorial boundaries of elected tiers of government. The emergence of new, non-statutory or informal spaces can be found at multiple levels across Europe, in a variety of circumstances, and with diverse aims and rationales. This book moves beyond theory to examine the practice of soft spaces. It employs an empirical approach to better understand the various practices and rationalities of soft spaces and how they manifest themselves in different planning contexts. By looking at the effects of new forms of spatial governance and the role of spatial planning in North-western Europe, this book analyses discursive changes in planning policies in selected metropolitan areas and cross-border regions. The result is an exploration of how these processes influence the emergence of soft spaces, governance arrangements and the role of statutory planning in different contexts. This book provides a deeper understanding of space and place, territorial governance and network governance.

What do we imagine when we imagine Europe and the European Union? To what extent is our understanding of the EU – of its development, its policies and its working processes – shaped by unacknowledged assumptions about what Europe really is? The book constructs a case for re-imagining Europe – not as an entity in Brussels or a series of fixed relations - but as a simultaneously real and imagined space of action which exists to the extent that Europeans and others act in and on it. This Europe is constantly being made in particular spaces, through specific actor struggles, whose interconnections are often ill-defined. We ask how do those concerned with building Europe, with extending and elaborating the EU, think of where they are and what they are doing? The book captures Europeans in the process of making Europe: of performing, interpreting, modelling, referencing, consulting, measuring and de-politicising Europe.

This book uses post-structuralist theories of power and discourse to study European integration and the associated forms of governance.

The contributors of this thoughtful book explore the role and influence of political leadership through a rigorous comparative analysis of regional-level dynamics in Europe. Visit our website for sample chapters!

This volume attempts to draw debates on governance, at both of these levels, into spaces of cross-border regionalism in Europe today. Embodying both supra-national and sub-national dynamics of contemporary forms of governance, cross-border regions (or euregions) enable observation of the fitful progress and contradictions of the multilevel polity that is contemporary Europe. Including case studies from throughout the EU as exemplars of specific "border regimes", the volume identifies the practical and theoretical importance of governing in Europe's new cross-border territories as part of a newly reinvigorated 'regional question'. In Europe's euregions, it is argued, issues of democracy, identity, sovereignty, citizenship and scale must be rethought, when a border runs through it. This book utilises a diversity of perspectives and a range of selected case studies to examine modes of governance emerging across the nation-state borders of Europe. It will interest students and researchers of European Union borders.

The research presented in this book based on new primary data demonstrates that in terms of civil society actors adapting to the European political space the Europeanization process has an uneven development. This innovative book integrates top-down approaches for the study of relationships within the developing EU-multilevel system (i.e., the consequences of Europeanization for civil society at the local level) and bottom-up approaches (i.e., the consequences of civil society for the process of European integration and democracy in the EU). The contributors argue that exploration of these recursive linkages requires a rethinking of the relationships between (local, national, and trans-national) civil society on the one hand, and multi-level governance on the other. In analyzing the opportunities for civil society associations to contribute to European integration and decision-making from various perspectives, the following findings are presented, amongst others: engagement with and confidence in the EU (compared to national institutions) is relatively weak among associational members party elites play a key gatekeeper role in the European space the EU and interest groups have had limited success in stimulating the development of citizen engagement, civil society and social capital in various countries. In the rapidly expanding field of research on democratic decision-making in Europe, this book will be welcomed by academics and scholars alike at postgraduate levels and above. Experts working in the field of European decision-making (such as lawyers and lobbyists) who are looking for conclusions based on high-quality empirical research will also find much in this book to engage them.

This book combines perspectives from political science, history and geography to provide a comprehensive introduction to the notion of European space. It introduces students to the traditional structures and institutions of local government and shows how these have been transformed in response to increased economic and political competition, new ideas, institutional reform and the Europeanization of public policy. At the book's core is the perceived transition from local government to local governance. The book traces this key development thematically across a wide range of West European states including: Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Space Security involves the use of space (in particular communication, navigation, earth observation, and electronic intelligence satellites) for military and security purposes on earth and also the maintenance of space (in particular the earth orbits) as safe and secure areas for conducting peaceful activities. The two aspects can be summarized as "space for security on earth" and “the safeguarding of space for peaceful endeavors.” The Handbook will provide a sophisticated, cutting-edge resource on the space security policy portfolio and the associated assets, assisting fellow members of the global space community and other interested policy-making and academic audiences in keeping abreast of the current and future directions of this vital dimension of international space policy. The debate on coordinated space security measures, including relevant 'Transparency and Confidence-Building Measures,' remains at a relatively early stage of development. The book offers a comprehensive description of the various components of space security and how these challenges are being addressed today. It will also provide a number of recommendations concerning how best to advance this space policy area, given the often competing objectives of the world's major space-faring nations. The critical role to be played by the United States and Europe as an intermediary and "middle diplomat" in promoting sustainable norms of behavior for space will likewise be highlighted. In providing a global and coherent analytical approach to space security today, the Handbook focuses on four areas that together define the entire space security area: policies, technologies, applications, and programs. This structure will assure the overall view of the subject from its political to its technical aspects. Internationally recognized experts in each of the above fields contribute, with their analytical synthesis assured by the section editors.

This open access book describes how the numerous arrivals of asylum seekers since 2015 shaped reception and integration processes in Europe. It addresses the structuration of asylum and reception systems, and spaces and places of reception on European, national, regional and local level. It also analyses perceptions and discourses on asylum and refugees, their evolvement and the consequences for policy development. Furthermore, it examines practices and policy developments in the field of refugee reception and integration. The volume shows and explains a variety of refugee reception and integration strategies and practices as specific outcome of multilevel governance processes in Europe. By addressing and contextualizing those multiple experiences of asylum seeker reception, the book is a valuable contribution to the literature on migration and integration, societal development and political culture in Europe.