The Geography of EU Discontent and the Regional Development Trap

2024/04/17 by Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose, Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, Lewis Dijkstra +1 · 1 voice · 115 citations
Social Sciences · #Economic geography #European Union Policy and Governance #Geography #Meteorology #Regional Development and Policy #Regional science #Social Policy and Reform Studies #Trap (plumbing)

paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/00130095.2024.2337657

published in Economic Geography 100(3), 213-245 (Taylor & Francis)

openalex publication_date 2024/04/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

While in recent times many regions have flourished, many others are stuck —or are at risk of becoming stuck— in a development trap. Such regions experience decline in economic growth, employment, and productivity relative to their neighbours and to their own past trajectories. Prolonged periods in development traps are leading to political dissatisfaction and unrest. Such discontent is often translated into support for anti-system parties at the ballot box. In this paper we study the link between the risk, intensity, and duration of regional development traps and the rise of discontent in the European Union (EU) —proxied by the support for Eurosceptic parties in national elections between 2013 and 2022— using an econometric analysis at a regional level. The results highlight the strong connection between being stuck in a development trap, often in middle- or high-income regions, and support for Eurosceptic parties. They also suggest that the longer the period of stagnation, the stronger the support for parties opposed to European integration. This relationship is also robust to considering only the most extreme Eurosceptic parties or to including parties that display more moderate levels of Euroscepticism.

Citations

• The revenge of the places that don’t matter (and what to do about it)
• How “Us” and “Them” Relates to Voting Behavior—Social Structure, Social Identities, and Electoral Choice
• Left-behind versus unequal places: interpersonal inequality, economic decline and the rise of populism in the USA and Europe

Cited by

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• Investment or Losers’ Compensation? The Mis-Selling and Re-Selling of EU Cohesion Policy
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• Unpacking Endogeneity: Growth, Discontent and Cohesion Policy in the EU Regions
• Geography of discontent and beyond: Extreme voting, protestations, riots and violence, and their spatial content
• Does population aging hinder regional innovation? A perspective on complementarity and substitution effects

Discussions

• Discontent thrives not in poverty’s depths but in the shadow of lost prosperity. Across the #EU, once-thriving regions now stagnate, fuelling #discontent & #Euroscepticism. It's not hardship alone, bu [bsky, 32 points, 2 comments]

Related

• The Regional Development Trap in Europe
• Unpacking Endogeneity: Growth, Discontent and Cohesion Policy in the EU Regions
• An evolutionary approach to regional development traps in Europe
• From nations to regions: electoral volatility in European multi-level politics
• Unpacking regional development in the EU: The interplay of cohesion, institutions, and sustainability