The course deals with the evolution of the European Union's cohesion policy, from its origins to its current configuration. Starting from the division of competences between the European Union and the Member States, it analyzes policy content and tools, deepening the complex issues arising from the involvement of multilevel governance in its planning and management. The course focuses on cohesion policy and its role for the harmonious development of all the regions of the European Union. The structural funds and their operational are analyzed in detail: common and specific regulations, planning, management, monitoring, reporting, evaluation. Territorial cooperation is also deepened, both internal to the EU borders (Interreg) and at the external borders (IPA and ENI), together with specific national and international legal and financial instruments dedicated to it. The course is completed with an examination of the general aspects of the Development Cooperation, highlighting similarities and differences with Cohesion policy. The course is also enriched by the presence of authoritative representatives of regional and national public administrations, daily engaged in the planning and management of cooperation programs and projects, to benefit, together with the theoretical deepening, of an operative knowledge of these topics.