The city as an agent for European integration: Tackling social exclusion in greater Paris

Abstract

The post-industrial economic and physical decline of urban areas is evidenced by unemployment, outmoded housing design, and lack of connectivity to goods and services. These characteristics contribute to social exclusion, or elements that prohibit one from fully participating in society. As a remedy and to enable these citizens to participate in the single currency market, the European Union established social cohesion policy, which took the form of financing city and regional programs.

This thesis describes social exclusion and the development of social cohesion policy in the European Union through Path Dependence and Multi-Level Governance analysis. The EU community initiatives in the Ile-de-France region illustrate how the European Union developed social cohesion programs to transform social exclusion issues into a supranational tool to build a more cohesive Union.