ABSTRACT
In this chapter we address the issue of social cohesion, as well as the size of territorial cohesion which is its direct consequence, through a particular interpretation: the processes of Europeanization and European integration jointly with the effects that the recent economic and financial crisis is having on them. In particular, this will be done by taking into account the two strategies accompanying the processes under investigation: convergence and autonomy, understood both in terms of legislative and implementing procedures. These strategies may appear to be alternatives, but, in practice, they are combined in many different forms in the European countries, leading to the delineation of specific welfare and social cohesion schemes, locally implemented.
