ABSTRACT
The region, as explored above, is a concept of government that sits uneasily within the nation-state paradigm. It is this failure to fit with conventional models of government that makes it so difficult a concept to define. It is at once both an intermediate level of government, reliant on the national level, and a level of legitimate government in its own right. It does not lay claim to the sovereignty of the nation-state, but does possess a degree of independent policy making power or limited sovereignty. It is thus distinct from both the national and local levels, but reliant upon each of them. In this it bears some similarities to the European level. It too is a sui generis model, beyond the national paradigm, relying not on the mythical concept of the nation for its legitimacy but on rational concepts of utility.
