This article examines the evolution of the European Community's regional policy sector through a study of three phases of the policy's development. The article argues that this evolution can only be understood with reference to both neofunctionalist and intergovernmental theory. At the heart of the policy sector lies a series of nation-state level bargains, as predicted by intergovernmental theory. Yet the dynamics highlighted by neofunctionalist theory -functional and political 'spillover' and the lobbying efforts of the European Commission -are also relevant to a consideration of the policy sector. Therefore, rather than perceiving the neofunctional and intergovernmental dynamics as being diametrically opposed, it is argued that 'spillover' and the efforts of the Commission have worked within the context of the national bargaining, and have helped shape the patterns and outcomes of this bargaining.
1 Research for this article was undertaken with the assistance of funding from the ESRC. Thanks also to Sonia Mazey, VΓ©ronique Mottier and Martha Lee for their helpful comments. 2
The nomenclature of the European Community changed with the ratification and entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty on European Union in November 1993. A European Union (EU) has been created. The EU is comprised of three pillars; one pillar consists of the amended European Economic Community, ECSC, and Euratom Treaties now collectively named the European Community. The other two pillars are Common Foreign and Security Policy and Justice and Home Affairs. Regional Policy falls under the European Community pillar and this article will refer to the European Community (EC) rather than EU.