5th NORDIC-BALTIC CONFERENCE IN REGIONAL SCIENCE
GLOBAL-LOCAL INTERPLAY IN THE BALTIC SEA REGION
Pärnu, Estonia, October 1-4, 1998

Göran Hallin
NORDREGIO, Nordic Centre for Spatial Development
PO Box 1658, SE-111 86 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel.: +46 8 463 5431    Fax: +46 8 463 5401
E-mail: goran.hallin@nordregio.a.se

This paper discusses the meaning of and the problems with the concept of partnership in a Nordic regional policy context. The partnership concept was introduced into European Union rethoric and practice around regional development and cohesion because of a growing unease with polar concepts such as ‘bottom-up’ versus ‘top-down’, ‘centre’ versus ‘periphery’ or, if one wishes, ‘Community’ versus ‘member state’.

Partnership is in this paper defined as a contractual relationship between agents situated at different levels and in different sectors within the nation-states. In particular this means that partnerships between local, regional and national level - on the one hand - and between private, public or ‘third sector-agents - on the other - are what is at focus here. Less attention is paid to the relations between member states and the European Community.

The paper concludes that the establishment of successful partnerships for regional development requires a spatial and political symmetry, where the roles and legitimacy of the individual partners are very clearly defined either in theory or in practice. Drawing on empirical studies of the implementation of the partnership based structural funds for regional development in Sweden and in Finland it is demonstrated that these preconditions are far from being established. In particular it is the unclear role of the regional political level which opens up for numerous problems which results are demonstrated in this paper.

The paper draws on a vast material of mid-term evaluations of structural funds programmes in Sweden and Finland. The paper is based on a preliminary analysis of more than fifteen programmes.