During most of the 20th century, social inequalities decreased between social classes, regions and age groups. Yet, since the late 1970s, the trend shifted towards rising inequalities. Leading researchers and politicians fear that the rising levels of inequalities challenge social cohesion and, in the end, produce unrest, instability and undermine the “European Social Model”. Moreover, the life chances of individuals seem to depend strongly with the place of birth and social background. While welfare state intervention managed to decrease social inequalities through social policies, education and housing policies and regional programmes, the effect of the market forces has become more dominant during the last decades.
The threat of declining social justice and territorial cohesion has several implications for society: First of all, uneven chances appear as socially unfair and largely undemocratic as a part of the population is, in reality, cut off from enjoying the opportunities of society. Secondly, this sense of unfairness may have potential for social unrest and political instability. Thirdly, excluding parts of the population also means that society is losing the benefits of having a better, educated labour force.
The overall aim of the COHSMO project is to identify the structures and processes behind the experienced territorial inequalities. Such an understanding will then help to detect the decisive forces behind the success of some localities; to which degree are these anchored at the local level and to what degree are they depending on national and/ or regional initiative. Finally, is it the intention to point out what can be done at various scales – European, national, regional and local scale. Will social investments be an efficient means to counteract rising differences at various geographic scales?
It is necessary to recognize the different meanings of policy concepts; while correctly translated, their implementation is almost automatically different due to various administrative systems, traditions and context: Consequently, identical policies deliver different results. Thus, the principle of subsidiarity must be taken seriously; there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all.
