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Abstract:
This article examines the Scottish experience of integrating sustainable development as a cross cutting theme in the European Union's Structural Funds programmes between 2000 and 2006: an approach known as mainstreaming. It explains how the theme has been integrated into the current Scottish programmes and draws on findings from these programmes' mid-term evaluations to provisionally assess the impact of the mainstreaming agenda. The paper argues that the Scottish approach to integrating the sustainable development theme is based on securing mainstreaming performance rather than more narrowly defined mainstreaming conformance. It goes on to identify and discuss factors that explain this approach. Finally, the article considers the evolving European regional policy context and suggests how sustainable development may be further embedded as the guiding principle for European regional policy programmes between 2007 and 2013.
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