Book excerpt: Regional development strategies have become the focus of attention in many countries in the 1990s. This textbook provides a conceptual, theoretical and empirical analysis of regional development strategies within a European context It examines the various regional development strategies which are currently being pursued within the regions of Europe - defined in its loosest term to include East and West. The book describes how many different European regions are attempting to reduce regional disparities by engaging themselves in coherent and focused regional development strategies, and there is also private sector approach to regional economic development. There are many case studies from Europe and from other parts of the world, including Japan, thereby providing lessons that different countries and regions can learn form each other.