Spatial Determinants of Tipping Point Governance: Beyond Stakeholder Agency

Moving beyond the stakeholder agency perspective, it is argued in this chapter that the existing core–periphery imbalances within the European Union mirror themselves into the unequal distribution of resilience capacities. It is shown empirically that there is an association between the capacity to be resilient and the level of economic development across the European Union member states to the detriment of its eastern and southern periphery. Building on the literature on regional economic resilience, the main determinants of the geographical distribution of resilience are identified. In particular, we focus on compositional, collective, and contextual factors. It is then shown that the decisive structural drivers of the lack of resilience in the European Union’s periphery are particularly the economic diversity and knowledge capacity, social capital, and trust, as well as the institutional quality.