Regional development in a structural recessive environment. Contributions of collaborative governance

The regional sustainable development, associated to the resources of each territory, does not happen by itself; their growth, consolidation and maintenance arise from the permanent mobilization of the endogenous and exogenous factors. The role of the institutional capital is critical. The loss intervention of the nation state forces the construction of alternative governance models; so, the concept of territorial governance has spread and deepened, both in conceptual and operational terms. In Portugal, in the last decade, the concept was stimulated by the application of EU funds under the National Strategic Reference Framework 2007-2013. The establishment of governance structures was a mandatory requirement for enabling applications to different programs, which justified their development. In the paper, through the analysis of the governance structures created under previous programs, we recognize several weaknesses: the incorporation of actors without interest to the partnership; their presence in multiple structures; the limited strength of the partnership to the specific aims, without purposes of continuity. The scarce results call for a critical reflection in order to learn for future. Now the issue gained increased relevance because (a) the economic crisis weakens the action of the public and the private actors and intensifies the competition for scarce resources; (b) the reduction of state functions affects the public investments; (c) the planning of the 2014-2020 Community Framework favors the creation of these partnerships. So, in this paper we defend the sustainability of territorial collaborative governance structures able to respond timely to the growing instability of the territories; the methodology is based on the critical analysis of previous experiences of governance structures in the field of regional development; as a result it is intended to define a set of requirements to enable the operation of a collaborative model of territorial governance.