Linking Regions and Central Governments : Contracts for Regional Development A trend toward decentralisation has meant that sub national governments increasingly find themselves responsible for providing a host of public goods and services. Rarely however can they go it alone . Co ordination among levels of government is imperative. This book offers a unique analytic framework for assessing multi level governance arrangements which is subsequently applied to five case studies of regional development policy: Canada France Germany Italy and Spain. The book reveals the importance of contractual arrangements for customised management of interdependencies for clarifying responsibilities among actors for dialogue and for learning.