ABSTRACT

So far we have discussed the role of nucleated settlements—village, town, and city—as regional centres. We now come to consider the major social groupings within the State and the various ways in which these find expression. The metropolitan or city-region is the most potent single force in the formation of these modern groupings, but other conditions—historic, cultural, and economic—also contribute to their characterization. Our concern is not with the constitutional intricacies of the regional movement, but with the characteristics of the major social groupings inherent in society, for it is upon these that any reorganization of new political divisions must be based. After a general discussion of Regionalism we shall pass to a brief review of its particular aspects in France, England and Wales, Germany, and the United States.