The Hour of the Regions: An Analysis of the State of Governance in the European Union

As the European Union (EU) has expanded and delved into new policy areas, the need for cooperation among local, national, and supranational actors has become evident. Scholars have characterized this new wave of EU and regional cooperation as multilevel governance. However, the exact role of regional entities remains a hotly contested issue. This paper analyzes the current state of regional government participation in the EU. I argue that despite its initial fame in the late nineties, multilevel governance is not a viable description of the type of governance seen in today’s EU. Instead, I show that governance in the EU most closely resembles a combination of multilevel governance and liberal intergovernmentalism.