The Rise of the Networking Region The Challenges of Regional Collaboration in a Globalized World

How regions and cities adapt to a Network Society and a globalized environment, the policies they pursue and how structures of governance are transformed in the pursuit of those policies are major themes in this volume. These issues are addressed with specific reference to the Nordic regions of Europe. Covering the four Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden plus the Faroe Islands, this volume charts the changes in networking activities and related development initiatives that have taken place over the last ten years. This means analysing regions in their pursuit of new policies, partnerships and styles of representation. Through this process regions are becoming partners and players in European integration and a movement of integrative regionalism is taking shape which is different from inward looking identity regionalism or self-centred competitive regionalism and takes regions beyond lobbying in Brussels.

Contents: Preface; The rise of the networking region: the challenges of regional collaboration in a globalized world, Harald Baldersheim and Morten Øgård; The Nordic regions: institutional development and public debate 1996-2009, Siv Sandberg; Knowledge brokerage and institutional retooling: policy preferences for regional development in a competitive world, Harald Baldersheim; Learning ecologies: capacity-building in Nordic regions and cities through cross-institutional and cross-border cooperation, Harald Baldersheim and Morten Øgård; Regions in the European architecture of governance: towards integrative regionalism. The attitudes of regional policy-makers, Harald Baldersheim; Transforming governance in cities and regions in the Nordic countries: adapting to 'the new citizen'?, Harald Baldersheim and Morten Øgård; Informatization of political roles and communication patterns: regional advantages through information and communication technologies?, Are Vegard Haug; 'The new kid on the block': Faroese foreign affairs - between hierarchy and network, Joan Ólavsdóttir, Jens Christian Svabo Justinussen and Beinta í Jákupsstovu; Building learning ecologies: what works and how? The examples of the county councils of Telemark and Aust-Agder (Norway), Jørgen Sande Lysa and Morten Øgård; International cooperation of the new Danish regions: lifeline or last rites? The case of Southern Denmark, Niels Ejersbo; Cultural policies as development strategies in Nordic regions - a comparison of two projects, Aase Marthe J. Horrigmo; Conclusion: the policy nexus in network governance, Harald Baldersheim, Are Vegard Haug and Morten Øgård; Bibliography; Index.

Harald Baldersheim, University of Oslo, Norway, Are Vegard Haug and Morten Øgård, University of Agder, Norway