In the last decades, a number of studies have considered the regional dimension of politics (Hooghe 1995; De Winter and Tursan 1998; De Winter 2001; Keating, 1998; De Winter et al. 2006) framed by European integration. European integration provided the opportunity to regional levels of government to develop some strategies in order to achieve their territorial interests. The support of European integration at state and especially at regional level depends on the economic resource and benefits obtained (Hepburn, 2008, 2010). European integration becomes an instrumental tool for the development of the poorer regions within EU.
‘Europeanization’ issue has been perceived as a set of opportunities for political actors at substate level (Hooghe 1995; Jeffrey 200; Keating and McGarry) and as a political strategy in order to achieve their own aims and territorial interests.
In this paper I intend to explore the link between the capacity of the substate actors in developing regional policies and their subsequent electoral and political gains anchored and encouraged by the ultra-peripheral cleavage, through the evidences from Azores and Madeira Autonomous Regions. The levels of investments in infrastructures and the promotion of economic growth are regarded as the key explanatory factors for the electoral and political outcomes.
