Regionalism and the European Charter of Regions = Regionalizmus és az Európai Regionális Charta

Abstract

The concept of region is many-sided and diverse (Esterbauer, 1989) The same word is used for a variety of arrangements in a variety of political areas. Region is a sub-unit, the territorial segment of a unit. The territory denoted by the word can only be defined exactly as a function of the whole of which it is part. In reference to the global community of states, a region may comprise several states. In this sense it refers to a smaller area of inter-state relations; in international law operating through regional organisations a region may be interpreted as a division within the community of states (Cf. Charter of the United Nations, 1991). In reference to a state, region is an administrative unit within the state. Within the “Europe of the regions”, regions are territorial units which, on the one hand, exist within a member state, and, on the other hand, extend beyond local areas (Hrbek, 1988).