Introduction: Studying Regions as ‘Spaces for Politics’: Re-thinking Territory and Strategic Action

Abstract

Transformations in global, European and domestic regulatory government have sparked debates about their effects on regions. Are regions becoming increasingly unbounded territories and/or passive actors in the face of political change? This Introduction argues for a political-sociological treatment of regions as ‘spaces for politics’ to answer these questions. This means first, conceiving regions as institutionalizing spaces, with power structures and logics of action; secondly, studying territory-linked arguments evoked by actors to legitimize the re-institutionalization of regional regulatory boundaries and spaces of public action; thirdly, studying regulatory strategies of individual and collective actors who act in the name of the region.