Cohesive society and development in the border regions of central and eastern Europe

Economic growth, one of the major objectives of the European Union’s Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion Policy, is also generating income disparities and deepening poverty among vulnerable population groups in communities in EU Member States. The failure to distribute wealth evenly generates social problems which, if not addressed and managed well by governments, can lead to instability, social pressures and conflict. The result is an unfavourable environment for foreign investment, domestic business and an unstable development process. Moreover, the structural changes needed to implement the EU’s green economy and digitisation programme will lead to new disparities or deepen existing ones. The 13 Central and Eastern European countries, members of the European Union, have a common history of 40 years, after 1989 they had to move from planned national economies to market economies. The pre-1989 gap with the western countries has been widened by the transition processes that have brought massive structural changes to national economies. Despite slow progress and higher growth rates than other Member States, income gaps and rural-urban disparities persisted. In this context, peripheral areas such as border regions are even more disadvantaged.

To mitigate the risks of weakening social cohesion, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council have developed strong strategies for inclusive growth, the European Social Model combining measures to support sustainable economic growth with those to improve the quality of life (employment, quality of jobs, equal opportunities, social protection, inclusion of citizens and their involvement in decision-making). The budget allocated to the structural funds supporting cohesion policy has been significantly increased since the 2000-2006 programming period. After 2004, when the first Central and Eastern European countries joined the EU, a significant part of the Structural Funds has been made available to the Central and Eastern European governments for investments in the fields of environment, transport infrastructure, industrial conversion, poverty reduction and reducing social exclusion. In the case of border regions, in addition to investments financed by the Structural Funds, they are also eligible areas for EU territorial cooperation programmes, another opportunity for these areas to improve their economic development and social cohesion indicators.

Academic objectives: The course aims to familiarise students on Masters programmes with theoretical and practical aspects of the two-way link between social cohesion and regional development. From this point of view, special attention is paid equally to the objective of inclusive growth in EU policies and strategies and to the European Social Model. In this context, the course aims to build as complete a picture as possible of the influence of a cohesive society on the development indicators of border regions in Central and Eastern Europe, and of the impact of EU Cohesion Policy on the constituent elements of social cohesion.

Learning objectives: The course aims to strengthen students’ skills in the following areas: identifying risks related to social cohesion in the context of regional development policies and strategies; identifying the challenges of achieving a more cohesive society in the border regions of Central and Eastern Europe; capitalising on the opportunities offered by the EU Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion Policy in sustainable inclusive growth projects; the management of information that is specific to solving complex tasks, the application of efficient work techniques in multidisciplinary teams corresponding to different hierarchical levels, the objective self-evaluation of the need for professional development for inserting in the labour market and adapting to its requirements.

Course and seminar structure:

1 – Social cohesion. Concept, introductory notions and framework of analysis

2 – The role of social cohesion in development

3 – Cohesive society and development. The European social model

4 – Indicators for measuring social cohesion

5 – EU cohesion policy

6 – Cohesion and development in Central and Eastern Europe

Course support:

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SOCIETATE COEZIVĂ ȘI DEZVOLTARE ÎN REGIUNILE DE FRONTIERĂ DIN EUROPA CENTRALĂ ȘI DE EST – Suport de curs / COHESIVE SOCIETY AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE BORDER REGIONS OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

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Selective bibliography

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