Regional policy from a regional geographical point of view: A comparison of Dutch provinces Friesland and Zeeland

Abstract

The methodological debates about comparative analysis in the social sciences are highly relevant for regional geography. Once the theoretical foundations of the unique are accepted, it is possible to design regional geographic models and to compare specific complexes by including the uniqueness of a region, the region's identity, in a general model of explanation. In order to perceive a region's theoretical base, we have to conceptualize a region as a system of subregions. The theory also provides an instrument to formulate (expect) regional policy and to evaluate (observe) regional policy at the regional and the state level. After a summary of the methodological debate, and a proposal for a theoretical foundation of comparison in regional geography, based on adapted models of the regional geographer A. Paasi and the psychologist A. H. Maslow, Friesland and Zeeland, two peripheral Dutch provinces, are compared according to the proposed theory, and with the help of the concepts regional differentiation and regional integration. Finally, the expected regional policies are compared and evaluated with the observed regional policies of the two provinces.