danielhiernaux@gmail.com
alicia.lindon@gmail.com
This paper states that any análisis of regional inequalities must address, in first place, the meaning of the term “region”. This leads to questions about the concept of region and, consequently to the concept of space. Not addressing those questions beforehand leads to a confuse and ambiguous analysis. Actual transformations in production processes and the globalization of the world economic relationships do have territorial expressions. The concept of region is therefore acquiring a new meaning in a globalised world. As a consequence, regional inequalities in the nineties cannot be addressed in the same terms as it was two or three decades ago. The actual debate over regional inequalities should therefore be based on a prior discussion of its meaning, instead of starting the discussion over the increasing or diminishing regional inequalities. In short, it is necessary to state in what sense regional inequalities is being discussed. Through this optics, the article revises the mainstream approaches of region and, the space sustaining it. It discusses the theoretical and methodological challenges of the regional issue today and also analyses in which sense the issue of regional inequalities can be approached in an increasingly globalised world.
Español
English 
Português