Differentiated Integration and Multilevel Governance in the European Union: Challenges and Opportunities For Territorial Governance

Abstract

The concepts of differentiated integration and multilevel governance in the European Union (EU) are fundamental approaches for those interested in discussing the nature of the EU as an arena in which public policy is developed. The goal of the panel is to analyse the notion of, and policies related to European territorial governance using the theoretical apparatus of differentiated integration and multilevel governance. The concept of European territorial governance is underexplored. It is usually employed in a narrow manner to address regional development and cohesion policies. However, the adoption of a wider notion of territory allows to explore distinct dimensions of territorial governance, specifically environmental, economic, securitarian, and digital aspects of territorial governance. The panel builds on the belief that there are distinct types of territorial space, specifically the physical territory, the environmental territory, the economic territory, the social territory, but also the digital territory. All these territorial spaces require European regulation. The panel intends to address the EU as a public policy regulator. The goal is to discuss several European public policies focused on distinct types of territorial governance, namely environmental policies, urban policies, internal security policies, and regional and cohesion policies. The panel would address, among others, the following research questions: 1. How can European territorial governance policies be understood based on the concepts of differentiated integration and multilevel governance? 2. How is the EU promoting a broader notion of territorial governance that encompasses securitarian, economic, environmental, social, and digital dimensions of what constitutes a territorial space? 3. Which models of territorial governance does the EU follow based on the interplay between different stakeholders and distinct levels of decision-making and policy implementation, and why? These research questions will be explored through distinct methodological approaches, namely policy tracing, comparative studies, discourse analysis, and exploratory case studies.

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