{"id":{"repo_id":"strathclyde","oai_identifier":"oai:strathclyde:pr76f390s"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/strathclyde/oai:strathclyde:pr76f390s","repository":{"repo_id":"strathclyde","name":"University of Strathclyde","base_url":"https://stax.strath.ac.uk/catalog/oai"},"display":{"title":"Local political leadership and administrative capacity for EU Structural Funds : the case of Cohesion policy in urban Romania","abstract":"The EU Structural Funds are instruments to support less developed regions, aiming to close the gap between Europe's least and most developed regions. Their implementation is essential for the EU's regional policy to achieve economic development. Empirical evidence indicates that the implementation rate of Structural Funds in Romania has been consistently low. However, at regional and local levels, a different pattern emerges. This thesis emphasises the critical roles of local political leadership and administrative capacity to explain the success of local authorities in securing EU resources in a context unfavourable to such an outcome. Through an empirical analysis of thirteen municipalities during the 2014- 2020 programming cycle, this study assesses the ability of local elected leaders to leverage EU funds to address local needs and evaluates the administrative capacity in each municipality. It finds that political leaders affect implementation through the strategic decisions and actions they take in the early stages of the process (formulation), through the measures they undertake to mobilize resources and enable the public administrations to attract funds (mobilization) and the assistance offered during implementation. While administrative capacity is an essential and necessary condition for attracting resources, it remains insufficient without political drive. The findings confirm the intertwined nature of politics and administration in the implementation of EU Structural Funds, highlighting the significant role political leaders play alongside administrative capacity.","abstract_html":"The EU Structural Funds are instruments to support less developed regions, aiming to close the gap between Europe's least and most developed regions. Their implementation is essential for the EU's regional policy to achieve economic development. Empirical evidence indicates that the implementation rate of Structural Funds in Romania has been consistently low. However, at regional and local levels, a different pattern emerges. This thesis emphasises the critical roles of local political leadership and administrative capacity to explain the success of local authorities in securing EU resources in a context unfavourable to such an outcome. Through an empirical analysis of thirteen municipalities during the 2014- 2020 programming cycle, this study assesses the ability of local elected leaders to leverage EU funds to address local needs and evaluates the administrative capacity in each municipality. It finds that political leaders affect implementation through the strategic decisions and actions they take in the early stages of the process (formulation), through the measures they undertake to mobilize resources and enable the public administrations to attract funds (mobilization) and the assistance offered during implementation. While administrative capacity is an essential and necessary condition for attracting resources, it remains insufficient without political drive. The findings confirm the intertwined nature of politics and administration in the implementation of EU Structural Funds, highlighting the significant role political leaders play alongside administrative capacity.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Dragos, Alina"],"institution":"University of Strathclyde","degree_name":"phd","degree_level":"doctoral-pg","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Mendez, Carlos","Bachtler, John"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023","date_published":"2023","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:50:29Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["10.48730/kfzd-0k35"],"render_values":[{"text":"10.48730/kfzd-0k35","href":"https://doi.org/10.48730/kfzd-0k35","code":true}]},{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["T16704"],"render_values":[{"text":"T16704","href":null,"code":true}]},{"key":"dc:creator.authoridentifier","label":"Author Identifier","values":["201681863"],"render_values":[{"text":"201681863","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://stax.strath.ac.uk/concern/theses/pr76f390s","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Mendez, Carlos","Bachtler, John"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Dragos, Alina"]},{"key":"dc:creator.authoridentifier","label":"Author Identifier","values":["201681863"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2022"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2023"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["School of Government and Public Policy","European Policies Research Centre"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Strathclyde"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["doctoral-pg"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["phd"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["T16704"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["10.48730/kfzd-0k35"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://stax.strath.ac.uk/concern/theses/pr76f390s"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Primary supervisor: John Bachtler","The EU Structural Funds are instruments to support less developed regions, aiming to close the gap between Europe's least and most developed regions. Their implementation is essential for the EU's regional policy to achieve economic development. Empirical evidence indicates that the implementation rate of Structural Funds in Romania has been consistently low. However, at regional and local levels, a different pattern emerges. This thesis emphasises the critical roles of local political leadership and administrative capacity to explain the success of local authorities in securing EU resources in a context unfavourable to such an outcome. Through an empirical analysis of thirteen municipalities during the 2014- 2020 programming cycle, this study assesses the ability of local elected leaders to leverage EU funds to address local needs and evaluates the administrative capacity in each municipality. It finds that political leaders affect implementation through the strategic decisions and actions they take in the early stages of the process (formulation), through the measures they undertake to mobilize resources and enable the public administrations to attract funds (mobilization) and the assistance offered during implementation. While administrative capacity is an essential and necessary condition for attracting resources, it remains insufficient without political drive. The findings confirm the intertwined nature of politics and administration in the implementation of EU Structural Funds, highlighting the significant role political leaders play alongside administrative capacity."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The EU Structural Funds are instruments to support less developed regions, aiming to close the gap between Europe's least and most developed regions. Their implementation is essential for the EU's regional policy to achieve economic development. Empirical evidence indicates that the implementation rate of Structural Funds in Romania has been consistently low. However, at regional and local levels, a different pattern emerges. This thesis emphasises the critical roles of local political leadership and administrative capacity to explain the success of local authorities in securing EU resources in a context unfavourable to such an outcome. Through an empirical analysis of thirteen municipalities during the 2014- 2020 programming cycle, this study assesses the ability of local elected leaders to leverage EU funds to address local needs and evaluates the administrative capacity in each municipality. It finds that political leaders affect implementation through the strategic decisions and actions they take in the early stages of the process (formulation), through the measures they undertake to mobilize resources and enable the public administrations to attract funds (mobilization) and the assistance offered during implementation. While administrative capacity is an essential and necessary condition for attracting resources, it remains insufficient without political drive. The findings confirm the intertwined nature of politics and administration in the implementation of EU Structural Funds, highlighting the significant role political leaders play alongside administrative capacity."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Local political leadership and administrative capacity for EU Structural Funds : the case of Cohesion policy in urban Romania"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Mendez, Carlos","Bachtler, John"],"dc:creator":["Dragos, Alina"],"dc:creator.authoridentifier":["201681863"],"dc:date":["2022"],"dc:date.issued":["2023"],"dc:description":["Primary supervisor: John Bachtler","The EU Structural Funds are instruments to support less developed regions, aiming to close the gap between Europe's least and most developed regions. Their implementation is essential for the EU's regional policy to achieve economic development. Empirical evidence indicates that the implementation rate of Structural Funds in Romania has been consistently low. However, at regional and local levels, a different pattern emerges. This thesis emphasises the critical roles of local political leadership and administrative capacity to explain the success of local authorities in securing EU resources in a context unfavourable to such an outcome. Through an empirical analysis of thirteen municipalities during the 2014- 2020 programming cycle, this study assesses the ability of local elected leaders to leverage EU funds to address local needs and evaluates the administrative capacity in each municipality. It finds that political leaders affect implementation through the strategic decisions and actions they take in the early stages of the process (formulation), through the measures they undertake to mobilize resources and enable the public administrations to attract funds (mobilization) and the assistance offered during implementation. While administrative capacity is an essential and necessary condition for attracting resources, it remains insufficient without political drive. The findings confirm the intertwined nature of politics and administration in the implementation of EU Structural Funds, highlighting the significant role political leaders play alongside administrative capacity."],"dc:description.abstract":["The EU Structural Funds are instruments to support less developed regions, aiming to close the gap between Europe's least and most developed regions. Their implementation is essential for the EU's regional policy to achieve economic development. Empirical evidence indicates that the implementation rate of Structural Funds in Romania has been consistently low. However, at regional and local levels, a different pattern emerges. This thesis emphasises the critical roles of local political leadership and administrative capacity to explain the success of local authorities in securing EU resources in a context unfavourable to such an outcome. Through an empirical analysis of thirteen municipalities during the 2014- 2020 programming cycle, this study assesses the ability of local elected leaders to leverage EU funds to address local needs and evaluates the administrative capacity in each municipality. It finds that political leaders affect implementation through the strategic decisions and actions they take in the early stages of the process (formulation), through the measures they undertake to mobilize resources and enable the public administrations to attract funds (mobilization) and the assistance offered during implementation. While administrative capacity is an essential and necessary condition for attracting resources, it remains insufficient without political drive. The findings confirm the intertwined nature of politics and administration in the implementation of EU Structural Funds, highlighting the significant role political leaders play alongside administrative capacity."],"dc:identifier":["T16704"],"dc:identifier.doi":["10.48730/kfzd-0k35"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://stax.strath.ac.uk/concern/theses/pr76f390s"],"dc:publisher.department":["School of Government and Public Policy","European Policies Research Centre"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Strathclyde"],"dc:title":["Local political leadership and administrative capacity for EU Structural Funds : the case of Cohesion policy in urban Romania"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["doctoral-pg"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["phd"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:50:29Z"}