Regionalism as social capital for regional development. Competing views

In the 19th and the first half of the 20th century in Europe regionalism was considered by proponents of nation states as a backward movement which made building of modern states and modernisation processes difficult. In the post-war period in Western Europe some began to conceive the regionalism as a social capital encouraging for economic and social development and as a means for improving public governance. This concept was behind the administrative reform in Poland in 1999 when big quasi autonomous regions were established. In recent years, the economic crisis and political conflicts in some European countries strengthened scepticism about the role of regionalism.