Source: Project OBNOVA – Support to the Ministry of Public Works, Reconstruction and Construction in the Formulation of National and Regional Development Policy, January 2003 .

The term ‘regional development policy’ pertains to a regional approach to the development of the entire national economy. Regional development policy therefore emphasizes the benefits of two basic objectives: increase in the
efficiency of national economy on one hand and balanced development of individual areas, which is an important factor in regional policy, on the other. In this way the modern regional policy or regional development policy unites two policies – the regional one and the developmental one.

Source: Hannell, T: "Regional Development in the Nordic Countries", Nordregio report, 2002

Today, regional development policy concentrates on social capital, prosperity and redistribution in favor of underdeveloped regions, as well as on economic growth in all regions of a country. As time passes by, less emphasis is laid on ‘regional development’ and underdeveloped regions and more emphasis is laid on ‘economic growth’ of all regions. Almost all policies have a spatial dimension and are rarely regionally neutral. The effect of sector policies on regional development is often called regional policy in broader sense, while individual efforts to contribute to the development of underdeveloped regions are called regional policy in narrower sense.

Source: Basic Guidelines for the Elaboration of Strategic Development Programs, GTZ, 2003

Regional development can be viewed as the process of initiating, structuring and achieving sustainable development, taking into consideration the complex regional circumstances and applying adequate procedures and instruments whose goal is economic development with a simultaneous cultivation of social principles and ecological demands.

Source: Maskell, P.: "Future challenges and institutional preconditions for regional development policy," Nordregion, 2000

Peter Maskell lists four preconditions for a successful regional development policy:

1. A good regional policy depends on the specific context and takes into consideration the specific qualities of economical structure of the region and non-market institutions.
2. A good regional policy is market-oriented and supports the activities already selected by the market.
3. A good regional policy responds to the process of globalization by: (a) concentrating on education, (b) concentrating its efforts on providing support to enterprises in order to help them overcome the cognitive distance from the valuable knowledge base which is outside their present reach, and (c) supporting the accumulation and protection of social capital necessary for the cooperation and the exchange of partially concealed knowledge among enterprises.
4. Institutional preconditions of economic globalization for regional development policy need to differ: regionally identical institutional frameworks of different nations will do little good to regional competitiveness.