Regional Formation and Development Studies

Globalization process has a gradually stronger influence on economic development. In this new reality the main indicator is innovation. Various regions of European Union formulate Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS). The goal of this document is to formulate essential elements of regional development strategy. This kind of strategy was created for the Mazovia region. In the document we can read that Mazovia is the most innovative region in Poland, however, it is still far behind regions in highly developed countries. The main strength of Mazovia is the fact that it is a capital region, which means a better access for enterprises to information, important contacts and promotion. Nevertheless, we still can experience many barriers, undermining regular regional development, such as insufficient grants for scientific research or inadequate engagement of public administration to help entrepreneurs.

The theme of this article is regionalisation processes in the region of Latin America. The article tries to find the basic tendencies of regional processes and development in Latin America. It was ascertained that regional processes in Latin America increased after the Cold War when new regional associations were establishing and collaboration between different regions increased. Regional processes do not happen for a long time due to the politics of national protectionism, tension between countries of that region and uneven collaboration in economic sphere. However, increasing political and economic influence of Latin America encourages regional processes by expanding the need of collaboration with this region.

This study aims at presenting complex information on the specifics of regional development and its management system, as well as the experience of forming and implementing the state regional policy in Ukraine. The information in the article is presented in the context of generally accepted notions and concepts of regional development and regional policy, along with the European experience and global trends, but first of all it is based on the realities of regions and rural areas in Ukraine and on its governance model. It has been determined that to establish an effective and competent public administration of rural development should be a priority, singled out as part of the state regional policy, socially orientated and coordinated with sectoral policies.

The article builds on the authors’ research into the formation and activity of trans-border cooperation of Belarus as part of regional policy and part of cooperation with neighbouring EU countries, addressing questions that may also be relevant on a broader regional scale. Based on empirical findings, this article aims to discuss the effectiveness of trans-border cooperation in general and activities of the Euroregion in particular. How do national and local governments, the existing legal framework, the level of cohesion of Euroregions as an important organizational form of trans-border cooperation of the administrative-territorial units of the Republic of Belarus and neighbouring countries in sociocultural, economic, socio-political dimensions contribute to the capacity of those initiatives to be a part of foreign and domestic policies? We take five Euroregions “Dnepr” (Belarus, Russia, Ukraine), “Bug” (Poland, Ukraine, Belarus), “Belovezhskaya puscha” (Poland, Belarus), “Neman” (Kaliningrad region, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus) and “Ozerny krai” (Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus). The empirical data were collected through the analysis of current legal framework of trans-border cooperation in Belarus and through personal interviews with representatives of government, scientists involved in the Euroregion studies, as well as among representatives of public institutions and associations of the countries – participants of the Euroregions. We find that even though Belarus has a reduced level of relationship with the European Union a crucial feature for all Euroregions is the number of projects in framework of mainly the EU technical assistance programs. The paper, therefore, highlights that from one hand, the economic and social development in bordering regions could take place without Euroregions, from another – the prospective role of the Euroregions will be in development of “good neighbourhood belt” on the perimeter of external borders of Belarus in all its dimensions: military, political, cultural, informational, social and economic.