INSTITUTIONAL ISSUES FOR THE EUROPEAN REGIONS - FROM MARKETS AND PLANS TO SOCIOECONOMICS AND POWERS OF ASSOCIATION

This article, focusing on regional development issues, discusses the p olicy alternatives that might be mobilized to reverse the centralizing forces unleashed by the pursuit of neo-liberal policies in the Europe an Union. It highlights the limitations of contemporary versions of th e managed economy model, and explores the significance of an emerging model of development rooted in socioeconomics, and stressing the power s of 'associationism'. While broadly sympathizing with this third way - in between market and hierarchy - as a basis for generating economic success, the article goes on to argue that questions of social equity and political democracy remain unresolved by the associationist agend a.