Introduction

Abstract

Problems of unemployment and social unrest. are on the increase in several European countries. And even if it is the spectacular clashes in big cities that draw the attention of the media, it is in the peripheral regions of these countries that the shortcomings of obsolete central government policies are most clearly visible. Ordinary people, particularly the women and the young, are facing joblessness, low incomes and a risk of being totally alienated from the postwar welfare society. Tensions between centre and periphery are increasing. As those problems of unequal opportunities are deepening, a polarisation of both research and policy implementation is taking place.