Increasing localisation represents one of the most spectacular processes of the economies that develop and transform as a result of globalisation processes: while the (relative) importance of national economies is decreasing, the economic role of regions and cities seems to grow. Global competition has intensified also in space, especially with the growing importance of the knowledge-based econ...

The politics of contestation on the part of secondary regional powers such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela towards Brazil as the regional leader oscillate between competition and cooperation, inasmuch as the South American region has one regional power and is a zone of negative peace without aggressive rivalries. The secondary powers use different tactics, which c...

This paper discusses the question of whether institutions matter for regional development and, if so, of how can the institutional dimension be integrated in regional development strategies. It finds that while the role of local institutions is crucial for economic development and as a means of determining the returns of regional development policies, generating an institution-based general reg...