European regional elite behaviour: A comparative study of political and business elites in the Strathclyde region of Scotland and Nomos Chanion in Crete

Christopoulos, Dimitrios C. (1996) European regional elite behaviour: A comparative study of political and business elites in the Strathclyde region of Scotland and Nomos Chanion in Crete. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

In the framework of the European Communities and later the European Union a number of policies were devised for the European regions to facilitate their balanced economic development. An attempt to co-ordinate these policies can be linked to the fact that European regions are increasingly interdependent and European Union policies increasingly more relevant to this interdependence. Socio-economic and regional planning information between the Community regions is vital in this interdependent environment. The importance placed by the academic literature and by the European Commission on regional planners and their actions has to an extent obscured the importance of regional elites in this process. This thesis attempts to redress the balance, and does so by means of a series of interviews with business and political elites on the effects and prospects of further economic integration as well as administrative and political autonomy. I am comparing Western Scotland and the west of Crete focusing on the wider regional political and business elites within these regions. My assumption that the interaction of regional elites with each other can be, at least partly, responsible for competitiveness differentials between regions underlies most of this analysis. I attempt a comparison of elite attitudes within regions and between regions, giving particular attention to the effect aspirations to autonomy may have on elite perspectives. I have been able to discern and identify a relationship between regional elite attitudes on devolution and their perceptions of business prospects in a region. I have also identified a relationship between the attitudinal concordance among a region's elite groups and regional growth prospects. Furthermore, I have identified certain value groups for which attitudinal concordance appears significant to elite co-operation. Ensuing conclusions do not necessarily have predictive value but, by identifying attitudinal patterns among regional elites, can provide an insight into the transforming effect of European integration and modernity on European regional civil societies.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Political science, European studies.
• Subjects: J Political Science > JC Political theory
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Supervisor's Name: Heywood, Professor Paul
• Date of Award: 1996
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1996-71850
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 17 May 2019 09:31
• Last Modified: 05 Sep 2022 07:52
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.71850
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/71850