REGIONAL PAROXYSMS IN PORTUGAL: TOP-DOWN OR BOTTOM-UP DEVELOPMENT?

Abstract

The current European development paradigm implies a strategy which takes people and territories (people-centred and place-based policies) into account. Nevertheless, financing such a strategy entails following pre-established objectives. This text explores the "schizoid" character resulting from this duplicity in the Portugal 2020, presenting a systematization of developmental paradoxes according to three levels of analysis: European mega-regions; national regions; and intra-regional processes. As a corollary, it is proposed that regional development can be understood in terms of two major problematics ("˜follow the people' vs. "˜follow the money' and evidence-based policy vs. policy-based evidence) and two developmental traps (the money trap and the territory trap). It is concluded that the Region as a development territory reveals a strategic, administrative and sociological fragility.