The ‘Hybrid’ State: Reconfiguring Territorial Governance in Western Europe

Abstract

One of the central questions in contemporary social science is the fate of the nation-state. The nation-state reached its apogee during the period of post-war economic boom and expanding welfare states. European integration was a means of ‘rescuing’ nation-states during this period. Neo-liberalism mounted a serious challenge to the welfare version of the nation-state following a series of political, economic and social crises in the 1970s. The nation-state survived albeit in a form different from the previous version. It is now more characterized by a combination of centralist interventionism and ‘choice’ in its territorial organization and policy approaches. This may be seen in patterns of central–local relations, public administration and fiscal relations. This we have called the ‘hybrid state’.

Key Words:

• Nation-states and Europe
• territorial governance and the welfare state
• state change and neo-liberalism
• territorial reorganization
• administrative and policy reform
• fiscal relations
• the hybrid state