Where is the “Social” in Development? A large scale analysis of the socioeconomic development models in Europe and their representations

Since the release of the Brundtland Report in 1987, the concept of "sustainable development" has been framed around three interconnected pillars: society, environment, and economy. This dissertation focuses on the social pillar, seeking to identify its theoretical and empirical specificities and its intersections with the economic pillar. The study begins with a synthesis of the extensive literature on development and economic development, aiming to construct a theoretical model that captures the interplay between the social and economic dimensions. This model provides the foundation for subsequent analyses, which examine its applicability within the European context. A large-scale computational analysis of textual data describing projects implemented across Europe under the European Cohesion Policy (ECP) for the 2014–2020 programming period is conducted. This analysis aims to identify the socio-economic models underpinning developmental dynamics, such as the European Union's efforts to promote equitable development across member states, and to assess the extent to which the Inclusive Development paradigm is incorporated. The research employs a combination of word embedding-based topic modeling to explore the principal topics of the projects and information extraction techniques utilizing Large Language Models (LLMs). A hierarchical clustering is then performed based on the distribution of specific topics by country to identify the socio-economic development models adopted by different nations and to attempt to define country clusters. This procedure is further validated through the construction of a text classification model based on textual features to assess whether the categories are supported from a computational perspective. A dedicated chapter examines the application of these methods in the tourism industry, investigating whether and how these initiatives align with the principles of inclusive growth. Additionally, the thesis includes an analysis of 32 interviews with stakeholders engaged in social projects to explore their social representations of developmental goals and to analyze the interaction of individual, inter-organizational, and institutional processes, as well as their implications for cooperation dynamics. The findings contribute to theoretical discourse by proposing a framework for analyzing the management of the social component in development plans. They also offer practical insights for policymakers and organizations, aiding their positioning within the prevailing developmental models.