"Strength in diversity? French and German regional responses to European Union educational initiatives"

This paper examines the relations between the regional, national and supra-national levels of government within the European Union (EU). Specifically, it compares the responses of the 22 French regions and the 16 Germans states to the EU’s initiatives in education policy. The hypothesis set forth is that both the French and German regional governments have greatly benefited from EU policies such as Socrates/Erasmus and Leonardo that aim to integrate the education policies of the EU member states. The evidence suggests that by participating in these programs the national governments of France and Germany have lost policy-making competence to the higher level of government, i.e. the European Union, and to the lower level of government, the French regions and the German Länder. This is called the "sandwich hypothesis" because the national governments are seen to be squeezed between the growing power of the EU supra-national institutions, on the one hand, and the increasing influence of the regional governments, on the other hand. Our paper thus sheds some light on the theoretical discussion of the changing role of the nation-state facing the twin forces of internationalization and regionalization within the European Union