Regionomics: Introductory elucidations
Authors: Ocic Caslav 
Published: November 2011

The complex issue of regions, treated by the new region science (which the author calls regionomics), implies the need to introduce certain distinctions for analytical purposes. Thus the article determines the requests of regional movements for political self-determination (= regionalist ideologies) as regionalism; attempts of the centralized Unitarian state to implement decentralization (or any other attempt of the state to introduce administrative divisions) as regionalization, and the region as the basic analytical concept of the regionomics. Experience points to the strong interaction between these three categories. Sometimes, a common name is used for them - regional (or regionalistic) corpus, that is regionality. To round up the regional issues, the regional policy, that is the strategy of regional development, should be added to these categories. The main goal of this paper is to clear up and define as correctly as possible the basic regionomic notions, to create not only an adequate analytical apparatus which would serve to explain the current regional phenomena and processes, but to present a basis for the policy which could successfully come to grips with the solution of the regionality problem (which has all the characteristics of a developmental, strategic problem). In addition, the paper also offers some terminological specifications (region, and not regija!). The paper presents answers to numerous questions: what are regions: an idea and/or reality? How are they characterized along the following dimensions: territoriality and institutionalization; objective criterion: homogeneity and functionality subjective criterion: identity. How do regions change and develop? By state interventions, restructuring of economy or through new discourses political, cultural or scientific? In the first part of the paper, the author also discusses the following issues: growth of a region as a social process region and power; regional separatism: economic and political; informatics revolution and regional structure (region versus network); global and European frameworks of the regionalization of Serbia. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the issues of institutional arrangements (optimal degree of the /de/centralization of a state), regional politics (regional goals in conflict, arbitrating, /de/centralization; aggregate efficiency versus inter-regional equality; generative regional model: "exceptions" from the "classic" rule: regional development contributes to the national-economic development; prosperity of the territory versus prosperity of the population; inter-regional equality: tendency for redistribution; tendency for centralization; goals of the policy of regional development; spatially coordinated regional-political target system; spatially non-coordinated regional-political target system; instruments of regional policy; evaluation of the results of regional policy; new regional policy from the end of the past and at the beginning of this century) and strategies of regional development (primarily, the strategy of achieving the goals of the region).