"LOCAL" DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPE: TOWARDS A NEW MYTHOLOGY

From the mid-1970s onwards, many southern European regions experienced a pattern of decentralized development and growth. This pattern has been largely explained by theories of “local” or “endogenous” development which became the new catch-phrases during a period of great financial difficulties. Despite logical improvements and the use of some radical rhetoric, local development approaches based on rationalization of existing cases (especially in Third Italian regions) suffer both in their theory and practice from the same inherent limitations of two decades ago. The paper argues for an alternative interpretation of local development characteristics in Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece, discussing the political implications of proposed policies.