<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> The study aims to give a comprehensive explanation on how regional construction took place in the European history related to the state-building processes and how the historical heritage of the European state-construction influences today the social construction of the regions. With regard to the state-building processes, the study started from Hechter’s model of ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ state and his interpretation on the relationship between core regions and peripheries. This model operates with the centralizing power of the state, but from the last decades of the 20<sup>th</sup> century it was proved via the ‘new regionalism’ that social construction processes became more relevant in shaping new subnational regions. This last aspect is described by Paasi, and the study argues for a new concept of regional identity as a territorial ‘product’ of interacting governance and local society.</p></abstract>

The study aims to give a comprehensive explanation on how regional construction took place in the European history related to the state-building processes and how the historical heritage of the European state-construction influences today the social construction of the regions. With regard to the state-building processes, the study started from Hechter’s model of ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ state and his interpretation on the relationship between core regions and peripheries. This model operates with the centralizing power of the state, but from the last decades of the 20th century it was proved via the ‘new regionalism’ that social construction processes became more relevant in shaping new subnational regions. This last aspect is described by Paasi, and the study argues for a new concept of regional identity as a territorial ‘product’ of interacting governance and local society.

Regions – between History and Social Construction

Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania Department of International Relations and European Studies,

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, European and Regional Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"Regions \u2013 between History and Social Construction"}

The study aims to give a comprehensive explanation on how regional construction took place in the European history related to the state-building processes and...

Regions – between History and Social Construction

Published Online: Apr 06, 2017

Page range: 25 - 37

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/auseur-2016-0018

Keywords
Europe of regions, obscured regions, core regions, peripheries, state building, regional identity, social construction

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Regions – between History and Social Construction

Published Online: Apr 06, 2017

Page range: 25 - 37

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/auseur-2016-0018

KeywordsEurope of regions, obscured regions, core regions, peripheries, state building, regional identity, social construction

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Europe of regions, obscured regions, core regions, peripheries, state building, regional identity, social construction