Building a Cross-Border Region Using the Example of Euroregion Silva Nortica—On the Way from Closed to Open Borders

Abstract

This chapter attempts to present one model of cross-border regions, including related cross-border cooperation, using the example of the Silva Nortica Euroregion on the border between South Bohemia and Lower Austria and aims primarily at mapping, analysing and evaluating the process of the institutionalisation of cross-border cooperation and the formation of cross-border regions. We describe and analyse the transformation of the geo-position of the Czech-Austrian borderland from a closed territory (Iron Curtain) to an open one (Schengen). The key data of the study are the result of a field survey both among the inhabitants and the key personalities of the Euroregion. Cross-border contacts and cooperation are greater in areas closer to the state border. Cross-border cooperation in the Silva Nortica Euroregion is also heavily influenced by its organisational structure, or, differences in the organisation of its individual national parts. The cross-border community and identity is underdeveloped in the region. These are represented by persistent prejudices and injustice from the past, the language barrier and bad experience with Czechs/Austrians and others. The chapter results show that building cross-border cooperation, followed by a cross-border identity, or forming a cross-border region, is a complex process. It is influenced by administration, institutions and powers, as well as individual perceptions and the local specifics of the region and its inhabitants.