Regional Administrations in the European Union: Two Examples and Insights for Turkey

In the 1980’s, regional administrations began to be seen as the leading actors of economic and social development as well as democratic life in the European Union, emphasizing the critical role played by local and regional administrations in the integration process. Since the 1990’s, regional administrations in the European Union have been through a process of gaining autonomy and localization. With the use of historical and descriptive research methodology based on literature review, this study aims to describe the changes in the local and regional administrations in two Eurpoean Union member states of different administrative traditions, namely France and Federal Republic of Germany, and to evaluate the regional administration reform made in Turkey in terms of the European Union’s understanding of “region”