Territorial Governance in Portugal: Institutional Change or Institutional Resilience?

Abstract

Abstract In the last few decades, Portuguese territorial governance has been subject to considerable pressure for change. European Union membership has played a central role in this process, either directly through the introduction of new instruments, such as development programs, or indirectly through influences on planning concepts. However, domestic contexts often develop a high degree of resilience in the presence of these Europeanization processes. This is the case in Portugal, where programming instruments and the formal planning system evolved differently, reflecting differentways of combining change and resilience. The article addresses this issue by comparing these two facets of Portuguese territorial governance in the case of inter-municipal coordination.