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Europeanizing Timisoara: neoliberal reforms, continuity with the past, and unexpected side effects

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Abstract

This paper analyzes how processes of Europeanization opened up opportunities and generated ideals, which in turn changed the articulation between political and economic powers in the city and county of Timisoara, Western Romania. It builds on case studies of local government agencies and foreign investors from Italy. In doing so, it discusses the circular relationship between the European and the local levels of governance: European governance affected the interactions between firms and institutions in the city, while at the same time city authorities used different understandings of ‘Europe’ to pursue their own agenda. It also shows some of the unexpected side-effects of Europeanization, due to the political activism of Italian investors. Beck and Grande’s concept of ‘reflexive modernization’ and the literature on regional economies frame the discussion.

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Notes

  1. Funded by a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation, Off Campus Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Graduate School of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Doctoral Research Travel Award from the University Center for International Studies (presently called Center for Global Initiatives) of the UNC-Chapel Hill, Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the Graduate School of the UNC-Chapel Hill, this paper draws on empirical research undertaken between 2005–2006 from a project entitled ‘the Relationship between the Processes of Outsourcing of Italian Textile and Clothing Firms and the Emergence of Industrial Districts in Eastern Europe’.

  2. For further information, see the agency’s website, www.adetim.ro.

  3. This is a quite common arrangement in the apparel sector: in order to absorb seasonal fluctuation, the core of the production is done internally, and the extra is done by subcontractors.

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    Christian Sellar

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Sellar, C. Europeanizing Timisoara: neoliberal reforms, continuity with the past, and unexpected side effects. GeoJournal 78, 1–19 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-011-9421-y

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