State transformations through public, multilevel, and territorial governance in European Union: Towards a metagovernance paradigm

Abstract

This article discusses “public,” “multi-level,” and “territorial” governance, highlighting the reformulation of the state based on a double dynamic, vertical and horizontal, of displacement of state power in the European Union. We propose that public governance opened up to the ambivalence between “multi-level” and “territorial” governance. This ambivalence is evident in the practical challenges within European governance in the making. According to these challenges, Europeanization raises two priorities: subnational structures that enable the state to get closer to the territory and the people, and beyond borders networks between states, institutions, and people(s). This possibility of effectively involving new actors (at all levels) in the political process of the construction of European regions requires a multi-spatial metagovernance approach.