Encyklopedia Administracji Publicznej MW Pivot Skin

REGION – a separated area of the Earth, characterized by specific features that distinguish it from the surrounding environment. The definition of a region is different depending on the discipline of science. In economic sciences, a region is an area distinguished on the basis of characteristics related to human activity. Economic regions are classified based on the distinction of economic characteristics (e.g., agriculture, industry) and on the basis of the analysis of economic dependencies. In legal sciences, a region is the unit of administrative division of the highest degree, distinguished by the legislator because of the characteristics different from other units of administrative division of the same degree. The scope of the competences of a region depends on the specificity of the systemic solutions adopted in a given country (enshrined in the constitution or in the statutes). In the EU, for the purposes of cohesion policy, the European Commission has developed a special hierarchical classification of regions (so-called Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics → NUTS), which takes into account the specific administrative divisions of the member states, and where the region is defined as a territorial statistical unit that coincides with the administrative division in each member state. According to the Declaration on Regionalism in Europe, 1996, of the Assembly of European Regions, a region is defined as a part of a strictly national territory subordinated to the central authority. It is located between the centre of the state and the lower territorial units and most often has the status of a corporation governed by public law. It has specific political competences and should have elected political authority. In Poland, a → voivodship is the unit of regional division (→ regional policy) [ K. Tomaszewski ].

Literature: H. Dumała, Transnarodowe sieci terytorialne w Europie, Lublin 2012 ■ H. Skorowski, Europa regionu: regionalizm jako kategoria aksjologiczna, Warszawa 1999 ■ K. Tomaszewski, Regiony w procesie integracji europejskiej, Kraków 2007.