‘Cognitive Europeanization’ and the territorial effects of multilevel policy transfer: Local development in French and Spanish regions

Abstract

This article explores the process of ‘cognitive Europeanization’ of territorial policies and how this process is impacting on multilevel governance. Over the last two decades, a number of European spatial programmes have developed similar norms of action at the local and regional level. Focusing on the interactive character of the Europeanization process, the author considers sub-national actors as key elements in the adaptation of domestic political systems to these European norms. Drawing on a comparative study of territorial policies in France and Spain, the article illustrates how the policy transfer of EU-level norms is producing structural changes in territorial governance. Socialized to a European model of local development, it is argued, both regional actors and regional institutions are Europeanizing their policies without EU legislation.