Bordering, Border Politics and Cross-Border Cooperation in Europe

Abstract

The chapter presents the state of the art of debates on theoretical and practical issues concerning border politics and cross-border cooperation in Europe, that are relevant to the interaction between the EU border regions and their immediate neighbours. The chapter focuses on the concept of ‘bordering’ as a theoretical and empirical approach to understanding the socio-political significance of borders both within and beyond Europe. Rather than to focus strictly on physical borders as legal institutions, the ‘bordering’ perspective is about the everyday construction of borders among communities and groups, through ideology, discourses, political institutions, attitudes and agency. In this frame, a focus on the cross-border cooperation initiatives is presented. Furthermore bordering is analysed within the EU’s dual geopolitical project of consolidation and co-operation. The ‘politics of borders’, it is argued, has been an integral part of the European Union’s project of integration, enlargement and regional cooperation and has been embodied by the European Neighbourhood Policy.