European Unification-A Process of Convergence, or Divergence? (Second Edition) (in Greek) Athens: Historical Quest (2014) This book was created for academic use and cannot be found at bookshops

This book is an enriched second edition. It refers to the Regional Policy and Cohesion Policy of the European Union, the political and economic situation of the European Union, the NSRF and the Enlargements. Issues, such as institutional capacity, the absorption capacity of European Union funds, the proper functioning of the Structural Funds and the constructive cooperation of regions and countries with the European Union are key components towards the desirable economic convergence. In this book, Ioannis Vasileiou presents many tables and figures in order to enable the readers to understand the main concepts in a more systematic way.

This book, in a single publication format with the book “European Unification-A Process of Convergence, or Divergence? (Appendix of Second Edition)” (in Greek), was taught for 8 consecutive years at the Athens University of Economics and Business and the Technological Educational Institute of Kalamata. It stopped being taught at the end of the spring semester of the academic year 2021-22 due to the fact that the cooperation between Dr. Ioannis Vasileiou and the publishing house Historical Quest has ceased.

This book was created for academic use and cannot be found at bookshops.

Also, this book has been accepted by the Library of the Hellenic Parliament.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Regionalism, Structuralism and Regional Development
2.1-Region and Regionalism and the Connection Between Them
2.1.1-Region: A Definition of the Meaning
2.2-Regional Scale and Regionalization: The Framework of Theory for the Study of “Regions”
2.3-Dependency Theory and Structuralism: Core Against Periphery
2.4-Regional Development Theory: Regional Convergence and Divergence
2.5-Conclusions

Chapter 3: The Regional Policy of the EU: A Brief Historical Review
3.1-Regional Policy Before 1988
3.2-Cycles (Financial Periods): Towards A More Efficient Cohesion Policy
3.2.1-First Cycle (CSF) (1989-1993)
3.2.2-Second Cycle (CSF) (1994-1999)
3.2.3-Third Cycle (CSF) (2000-2006)
3.2.4-Fourth Cycle (NSRF) (2007-2013)
3.3-Conclusions

Chapter 4: Policy Evaluation Theory and Results of the Four Cycles (Financial Periods)
4.1-Policy Evaluation Theory
4.2-Results of the Four Cycles (Financial Periods)
4.2.1-First Cycle (CSF) (1989-1993)
4.2.2-Second Cycle (CSF) (1994-1999)
4.2.3-Third Cycle (CSF) (2000-2006)
4.2.4-Fourth Cycle (NSRF) (2007-2013)
4.3-Conclusions

Chapter 5: The Economic Profile of the Regional Policy in the Context of the EU
5.1-Regional Policy in Numbers
5.2-Conclusions

Chapter 6: The Enlargement Context
6.1-Acceding, Candidate and Potential Candidate EU Member States
6.2-Rules, Guidelines and Conditions for Enlargement
6.3-Pre-Accession Strategy and Negotiation Process
6.4-Conclusionsα

Chapter 7: Case Studies: An Acceding (Croatia) and A Candidate (Iceland) Country
7.1-The Case of Croatia
7.2-The Case of Iceland
7.3-Comparative Analysis
7.4-Conclusions

Chapter 8: Concluding Remarks and Policy Recommendations

Appendix: Maps

Bibliography