APPRAISAL OF THE FINNISH OBJECTIVE-2 PROGRAM - REFLECTIONS ON THE EU APPROACH TO REGIONAL POLICY

In this issue of the Policy Review Section Heikki Eskelinen and Merja Kokkonen of the University of Joensuu, and Seija Virkkala of the Unive rsity of Jyvaskyla, consider some of the implications that membership of the European Union has for the development of regional policy in Fi nland. In the second article Michael Keane of the Department of Econom ics, University College Galway, examines the question of the interacti on between theory and practice in regard to the implementation of vari ous European Union regional and local development initiatives. In the third article Ian Pownall of Glamorgan University Business School, exa mines the changing nature of Irish regional development policy and, in that context, the influence of the European Union. Finally, Leslie Bu dd of the London Guildhall University, pursuing a similar theme, explo res the implications of the decentralization reforms in France for reg ional governance within the new European spatial economy.