«Города-близнецы»: новая форма приграничного сотрудничества в Балтийском регионе?

Abstract

An attempt at a complex analysis of the «twin city» movement as a form of cross-border cooperation in the Baltic Region has been made for the first time in Russian political science literature. This phenomenon emerged as a result, on the one hand, of the global tendency towards the activation of municipal units in the field of international interaction, on the other hand, the tendency of border cities situated in the Baltic Region to solve the accumulating problems collectively. This work is based on the comparative analysis method, as well as the case study methodology. The authors consider four cases (pairs of cities): Tornio Haparanda, Valga Valka, Narva Ivangorod, and Imatra Svetogorsk. This article specifies the terminological framework used in this field of research. The authors analyse the achievements and failures of this type of international inter-municipality cooperation and emphasise that, for twin cities themselves, it served as not only a means of survival in the difficult conditions of the 1990s, but also as an experimental ground for the search for new forms of cross-border cooperation. A conclusion is made that this model is quite promising for the further development of integration processes in the Baltic Region. This practice can be applied by Russian municipal, regional, and federal authorities in the development of cross-border cooperation not only in the Baltic region, but also in other regions of the country. So, under the influence of successful experience of Baltic border cities and towns, the Russian town of Nikel and the Norwegian town of Kirkenes decided to use this model for further development of their mutual cooperation.