O princípio de coesão territorial enquanto novo paradigma de desenvolvimento na formulação de políticas públicas: (re)construindo ideias dominantes

Abstract

There has been a growing interest by several worldwide institutions in both academia and policy making arenas in the territorial dimension of public policy design, discussing the added value of Territorial Cohesion as the new development paradigm. In a stage of particular importance, in which the main guidelines for the post-2013 period and the allocation of structural funds are being discussed, this issue assumes an additional interest amongst the European Union Member-states. Albeit as a political objective Territorial Cohesion is here to stay, there is no agreement on its precise meaning, hence raising difficulties on how to deal with it in an analytical and normative way. This article seeks to bring critical commentary to this arena on this matter by providing a guiding reference for public policies design and territorialization, thus improving decision policy processes based on this principle. © EURE.