Spaces of subsidiarity

A comparative inquiry into the social agenda of Cohesion Policy

Bibliographic Data

ID11198360
AuthorsSteven Ballantyne (0000-0003-0953-5557, Department of Political and Social Sciences European University Institute Fiesole Italy, corresponding author), Lorenzo Mascioli (0000-0001-8629-7594, Department of Political and Social Sciences European University Institute Fiesole Italy)
Year2024
Volume58
Issue4
Pages605-620
Publication date2024-07-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Policy and Administration (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0144-5596 • E-ISSN: 1467-9515
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/spol.13006
OpenAlexW4392786717
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited53

Cohesion Policy—the European Union's (EU) policy platform for regional and local development—represents a major yet often neglected instance of Social Europe. In this article we inquire into the delivery of Cohesion Policy projects concerned with social policy objectives. Specifically, we ask: how are these projects delivered? Building on the literature of subsidiarisation in social policy, we theorise that the interaction of two processes—vertical subsidiarisation across territorial levels and horizontal subisidiarisation across sectoral levels—generates different spaces of subsidiarity, with major implications for policy outputs and outcomes. Empirically, we explore the emergence of spaces of subsidiarity in over 800 Cohesion Policy projects for quality employment and labour mobility delivered in Italy, Portugal, and Spain, during the 2010s. We show that, despite common rules, the governance framework through which the social agenda of Cohesion Policy is implemented is not a constant but a variable, one that may be leveraged by future research to explain the heterogeneous impact of Cohesion Policy across the EU. Our contribution is relevant to research on Social Europe, research on the territorial dimension of post‐industrial welfare systems as well as research on Cohesion Policy

Cohesion (chemistry · Corporate governance · Economic policy · Economic system · Economics · European union · Green paper · Management · Political science · Public economics · Regional Policy · Social policy · Subsidiarity · Welfare · Law · Political Systems and Governance · Public Administration · Regional Development and Policy · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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