Francesco Palermo, Ph.D. (1998), University of Innsbruck, is Professor of Comparative Public Law, University of Verona, and Director of the Institute for Studies on Federalism and Regionalism, (EURAC). He has published widely in comparative constitutional law, minority rights, federalism.Sara Parolari, Ph. D. (2007), University of Trento, is Senior Researcher at the Institute for Studies on Federalism and Regionalism, (EURAC). Her research and publications mainly focus on comparative federal and regional studies, devolution issues and fiscal federalism.

• Introduction Sara ParolariPART ONE - FrameworkChapter I. Central and Eastern Europe regional reforms: from dismantling a Soviet model to Europeanizing a national one Anatoliy Kruglashov1. Introduction 2. Soviet model of regional governance: ideology, practice, institutional design and legacy in Central and Eastern Europe 3. Post-revolutionary period: debates and allowances of central governments to change regional policy and system of self-government4. Impact of European integration on regional reforms and development in Central and Eastern Europe5. Concluding remarks about Central and Eastern Europe countries’ regional policy upon accessionChapter II. EU regional policy and the process of institution-building in Central and Eastern European Countries Ekaterina Domorenok1. Introduction2. EU strategy for institution and capacity building: what is it about?3. EU Structural Funds: the myth of multi-level governance?4. Pre- and post-accession institutional pressures5. The Structural Funds implementation in Central and Eastern European Countries: between challenges and changes6. ConclusionChapter III. Decentralization and local development: antecedents, challenges and current organizational forms Gert Guri and Bruno Dallago1. Introduction2. Looking back at the institutional and economic transition processes and the (re-) naissance of decentralization3. Main challenges to decentralization4. Framing local development5. Conclusions and Future PerspectivesChapter IV. The English prototype. Non-political and non-administrative decentralization as a model for Central and Eastern European Countries? Sara Parolari1. Introduction2. The asymmetric nature of the British constitutional settlement and the consequences for England3. The regionalization process in England: the role of Regional Development Agencies4. Concluding remarksPART TWO – Case studiesChapter V. Decentralization and regional development in Romania. An unfinished reform in search of a “European” model Marius Suciu1. Reflections on the sense and difficulties of decentralization in ex-communist countries of East Central Europe2. Decentralization and regionalization in Romania. The challenges and ambiguities of a new model of regional governance3. ConclusionsChapter VI. The Recentralization of Economic Development in Hungary Zoltán Pogátsa1. Introduction2. Decentralization after transition 3. Recentralization after 2010Chapter VII. Securing growth and cohesion in Europeanized conditions. The role of regional development bodies in Poland Krzysztof Szczerski1. Position of the regions in Poland2. The role of public administration in regional development3. ConclusionChapter VIII. Regionalization and Regional Development in Serbia Chiara Guglielmetti and Sonja Avlijaš1. Introduction 2. Legacy of sub-national institutions developed during the socialist Yugoslavia (1945-1991) and Milošević’s era (1989-2000)3. Macroeconomic and legislative framework for regional development4. Regional development during Serbia’s Transition (2001- )5. Case study of Eastern Serbia6. Concluding remarksConcluding remarks. New regionalism in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. Traditional models and beyond Francesco Palermo1. Introduction. The end of regionalization or just the wrong approach? 2. Is regionalization desperate, necessary or imperative?3. The dilemma of political regionalization in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European Countries4. The way forward: asymmetry and institutional innovation