REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE 20TH CENTURY - THE CASE OF ROMANIA

The present paper aims at exploring the diversity of success types in development, and in generating and applying policies of regional development by looking at the structural disparities existing among European regions on the one hand —and at the ever growing importance of regions in Europe and in the world on the other hand. These issues are considered from the historical perspective. The research provides an overview of the development of regional studies with an emphasis on the European situation. The authors argue that — with a lack of a widely accepted model and a general theory of regional development — the main issues of the contemporary debates are oriented towards decision-making competences and policy generation at three levels: community, national, and regional. The situation of Romania is presented from the perspective of regional development as a key to European integration