Cross-border Policy Research Articles

Implementation of Transboundary Policy in the Republic of Indonesia-Papua New Guinea Border Area in Keerom Regency

This study aims to examine and analyze the implementation of cross-border policies that occur in the Border Region of the Republic of Indonesia - Papua New Guinea, inhibiting and supporting factors of cross-border problems, Efforts to resolve cross-border problems. This research was conducted in a descriptive qualitative form with a cas approach. Implementation of Transboundary Policy of the Republic of Indonesia – Papua New Guinea. The implementation of the Transboundary Policy of the Republic of Indonesia – Papua New Guinea in Skofro Village has not been implemented properly. Inhibiting and supporting factors, this shows that there are still many problems and obstacles related to Cross Borders. Lack of infrastructure and there are still many people in Skofro Village who do not have a Cross-Border Pass Card. The immigration office makes it easy to arrange a Cross-Border Pass Card. Efforts to resolve cross-border problems are by approaching community leaders, youth leaders, religious leaders, and traditional leaders to provide understanding regarding the rules of Cross-Border Affairs. Providing infrastructure such as Integrated Posts and Providing supporting documents (Passport Cross Borders) to cross the Borders of the Republic of Indonesia – Papua New Guinea.

Learn from elsewhere: A relational geography of policy learning in Bangkok’s Creative District

The article investigates Charoengkrung Creative District as a site of cross-border policy learning. Heralded as Thailand's first creative district and a “prototype” for many more to come, Charoenkrung Creative District promises to rejuvenate the city through a participatory, broad-based approach. Rather than analyzing the creative district as a local intervention, the article foregrounds the transnational character of policymaking. It shows that while the policy intervention is local, it is globally inspired by the imaginaries of “successful” elsewheres. The paper analyzes the state's discourse of creativity as a global–local negotiation, whereby the local understanding of creativity is contingent upon (and therefore curtailed by) its selective perception of foreign successes. Building upon the notion of assemblage, it points to a collage of policy ideas and imaginaries of success, which are mobilized to promote the vision of the creative district at home.

Do international trade and investment agreements generate regulatory chill in public health policymaking? A case study of nutrition and alcohol policy in South Africa

BackgroundTrade and health scholars have raised concern that international trade and particularly investment disputes may be used by transnational health harmful commodity corporations (THCCs) to effectively generate public health regulatory chill. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the limited evidence base of trade or investment dispute-related regulatory chill using a case study of nutrition and alcohol policy in South Africa.MethodsWe conducted 35 semi-structured interviews with 36 key stakeholders involved in nutrition, alcohol and/or trade/investment policymaking in South Africa. Interview transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. We used Schram et al’s theory on three forms of regulatory chill (anticipatory, response and precedential) to guide the analysis. We report evidence on each form of regulatory chill as well as specific contextual factors that may influence the risk of regulatory chill.ResultsTrade obligations were found to generate a significantly greater anticipatory-type chilling effect on nutrition and alcohol regulation than South Africa’s investment treaty obligations. Response chill was reported to have occurred in relation to South Africa’s proposed tobacco plain packaging regulation while awaiting the outcome of both Australia’s investor-state and WTO state-state disputes. No cases were reported of THCCs threatening an investor-state dispute over nutrition or food regulations, but there were reported cases of THCCs using arguments related to South Africa’s trade obligations to oppose policy action in these areas. No evidence of nutrition or alcohol policy precedential chill were identified. Factors affecting the risk of policy chill include legitimacy and perceived bias of the dispute system, costs involved in pursuing a regulation/defending a dispute and capacity to pay, social acceptability of the industry, a product’s perceived risk to health and confidence in a successful dispute outcome e.g. through cross-border policy learning.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that currently, South Africa’s trade obligations have a more prominent role in inhibiting nutrition and alcohol action than investment treaty-related concerns. However, given the potential for wider use of the ISDS mechanism by THCCs in the future, strategies to protect public health policy space in the context of both international trade and investment treaty and dispute settlement contexts remain important.

Preventing the Bad from Getting Worse: The End of the World (Trade Organization) As We Know It?

Abstract Recent survey evidence illustrates that many World Trade Organization (WTO) members and trade practitioners believe that the WTO dispute settlement system needs improvement. We make several proposals to improve the operation of WTO conflict resolution, drawing on proposals made by WTO members in the long-running negotiations to improve WTO dispute settlement procedures. We argue that a focus on technical dimensions of dispute settlement is insufficient to prevent a steady decline in the salience of the organization. Revitalizing the WTO as a forum for rule-making is needed both to address the cross-border policy spillovers driving trade conflicts between the major trading powers and to improve WTO conflict resolution. Principals – WTO members – should accept that negotiations to clarify and extend existing rules must be an element of a robust system of dispute settlement and that bolstering WTO dispute settlement is a necessary condition for nascent efforts at plurilateral rule-making to be successful.

Bordering on crisis: A qualitative analysis of focus group, social media, and news media perspectives on the Republic of Ireland-Northern Ireland border during the ‘first wave’ of the COVID-19 pandemic

RationaleInternational border controls were among the earliest and most effective of measures to constrain transmission of COVID-19. However, such measures are complex when established borders are open yet politically contested, as for the border that divides the Republic of Ireland (ROI) from Northern Ireland (NI). Understanding how this border affected the everyday lives of both populations during the pandemic is important for informing the continued development of effective responses to COVID-19 and future health crises. ObjectiveThis multi-methods study aimed to explore public perspectives on how the ROI-NI border affected experiences of and responses to the ‘first wave’ of the pandemic. MethodThe study collated data from focus groups (n = 8), news articles (n = 967), and Twitter posts (n = 356) on the island of Ireland, which mentioned the ROI-NI border in relation to COVID-19. Thematic analysis was used to explore the range of perspectives on the role played by the border during the early months of the pandemic. ResultsAnalysis identified three themes: Cross-Border Interdependencies illustrated the complexity and challenges of living near the border; Interpretations of Cross-Border Policy Disparities showed that lay publics perceived NI and ROI policy approaches as discordant and politicised; and Responses to Cross-Border Policy Disparities revealed alternating calls to either strengthen border controls, or pursue a unified all-island approach. ConclusionsResults reveal clear public appetite for greater synchronisation of cross-border pandemic responses, emphasise the specific vulnerability of communities living near the border, and highlight the risk of long-term socio-political repercussions of border management decisions taken during the pandemic. Findings will inform implementation of pandemic responses and public health policies in jurisdictions that share a porous land border.

Public and patient involvement in health data governance (DATAGov): protocol of a people-centred, mixed-methods study on data use and sharing for rare diseases care and research

IntroductionInternational policy imperatives for the public and patient involvement in the governance of health data coexist with conflicting cross-border policies on data sharing. This can challenge the planning and implementation...

Infant Mortality and the Repeal of Federal Prohibition

Abstract Using new data on county-level variation in alcohol prohibition from 1933 to 1939, we investigate whether the repeal of federal prohibition increased infant mortality, both in counties and states that repealed and in neighbouring counties. We find that repeal is associated with a 4.0% increase in infant mortality rates in counties that chose wet status via local option elections or state-wide legislation and with a 4.7% increase in neighbouring dry counties, suggesting a large role for cross-border policy externalities. These estimates imply that roughly twenty-seven thousand excess infant deaths could be attributed to the repeal of federal prohibition in this period.

Implementation of Jagoi Babang Cross-Border Postal Policy in Arrangement of Cross-Border Trading Between Indonesia-Malaysia

Border areas, whether land or sea, are vunerable smuggling activities, such as changing territorial boundaries, smuggling of basic necessities, illegal labour, smuggling drugs, smuggling vehicles and so on. These goods entered Indonesian territory through the Jagoi Babang land border illegally, so they are known as smuggling crime. Based on data Customs and Excise Supervision Service Official (KPPBC) Type Madya Pabean B Pontianak that on 2019 there have been 338 cases of smuggling in the land border area Jagoi Babang, Bengkayang Regency. The smuggling crime committed by unscrupulous members of the community area of Jagoi Babang can actually be subject to criminal sanctions to accordance with the provisions of Law Number 17/ 2006 concerning Amendments to Law Number 10/1995 concerning Customs, but in reality none the perpetrator of the smuggling crime is subject to criminal sanctions. The research approach used is qualitative, using data collection methods in the form of interviews, observations, and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) supported by interviews with the theoretical approach to the policy implementation model of Donald Van Meter and Carl Van Horn (1975: 75). Research results, it can be seen that the implementation of cross-border trade policies has not been carried out optimally. Among them, the smuggling is increasing in various forms, both physically and administratively. Keywords: Policy Implementation, cross border trading, smuggling

Tourism Development and Border Asymmetries: An Exploratory Analysis of Market-Driven Cross-Border Shopping Tourism

ABSTRACT This paper explores whether shopping tourism in the context of cross-border regions may trigger more viable, and long-term, tourism despite persistent border asymmetries (e.g. price and tax differences) which are typically key to luring tourists to short-term shopping visits. While tourism development is often an explicit goal of cross-border policy initiatives, this paper is devoted to the market-driven processes that might drive tourism beyond short-term shopping in borderlands. Based upon a case study from the Norwegian-Swedish border region of Østfold-Fyrbodal, it finds that asymmetric cross-border shopping tourism supports the development of a diversified tourism sector with a variety of tourist attractions and services organised around shopping, longer overnight stays and second-home tourism. Despite persistent border asymmetries, market processes may balance off the short-term shopping visits towards supporting long-term tourism, which provides economic value to the cross-border region.

Straw Purchase or Safe Haven? The Hidden Perils of Illicit Wealth in Property Markets

Real estate markets are highly vulnerable to inflows of illicit wealth, given the clandestine nature of dark money, making these activities difficult to detect and estimate. We exploit one of the largest offshore data leaks – the Panama Papers – to study how the associated individuals behave in housing transactions and quantify the effects of their housing market participation. We find that buyers linked to offshore secrecy purchase properties at a premium of 3.8%. Additional robustness and heterogeneity tests evidence that this premium is driven by these individuals’ secret funding and agenda to park money in properties as a safe haven. We further explore two policy shocks: the 2007 introduction of a cross-border cash movement policy and the 2010 implementation of the Estate Agents Regulations (EAW). After the former, the property selling prices of these individuals decreased by 5.5%, while their property purchase prices decreased by 2.7% after EAW. In addition, we document a negative externality of Panama-linked purchases on properties in the same projects and neighborhoods, revealing price increases of 5.1% and 7.3%, respectively. The back-of-the-envelope analysis further provides an aggregate estimate of illicit wealth in Singapore’s housing market, which is approximately S$0.65 billion to S$3.72 billion per year on average.

A game theory analysis of China’s maritime cross-border insolvency policy: from the perspective of Hanjin shipping’s bankruptcy case

ABSTRACT Financial difficulties experienced within the shipping industry have caused an increasing number of maritime cross-border insolvencies. The UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (the Model Law) is designed to assist countries in equipping their insolvency laws with a modern framework that more effectively addresses cross-border insolvency proceedings. This paper discusses whether China should adopt the Model Law, using the method of strategic game theory based on the Hanjin Bankruptcy case. Our results show that, from the perspective of a mathematical evaluation, China should not adopt the Model Law, since Hanjin declared bankruptcy with South Korea’s adoption already having taken place. Even if the Model Law is adopted, its application in China will be very limited due to the structure of Chinese shipping enterprises.

Testing the characteristics of macroprudential policies’ differential impact on foreign and domestic banks’ lending in Croatia

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, macroprudential measures were labelled as policymakers’ best response to systemic risk and macro-financial imbalances, with their effectiveness still largely unknown due to limited use of such measures. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the potentials and limitations of these measures by evaluating both the immediate and the overall impact of macroprudential policies on banks’ lending to the non-financial private sector in Croatia. The findings reveal the divergent impact of macroprudential measures on banks’ lending with regards to their direction, i.e. tightening or loosening. Policy makers should bear this in mind when opting for a tightening of their policy stance as the reversal of that action may not match the initial impact of its introduction. Additionally, from a policymaker perspective, this paper provides potential evidence of cross-border policy spillovers, which should be taken into account in order to conduct an effective macroprudential policy.

On Decolonising Borders and Regional Integration in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region

This paper uses insights gained from a qualitative study of informal cross border actors on selected Southern African Development Community (SADC) borders to argue for the decolonisation of these borders. It is asserted that, although SADC citizens enjoy a 90-day free visa in member states, this should not be simplistically taken to mean that there are “open borders” and free movement of persons in region. The recognition that a border “open” to formal actors may be closed to informal cross border actors based on issues of power and class is the foundation for the decolonisation of these borders, a process which should articulate to the regional integration project in the region. Such a decolonisation of borders should recognise in policy and/or border management regimes all cross-border actors, especially non-state actors, who are criminalized and rendered invisible through cross border discourses and policies. This point is worth emphasizing, because most people who cross African borders may not be the formal actors such as multinational corporations (MNCs) and/or their proxies who are favoured by cross border policies, but ordinary people such as informal cross border traders and border citizens, who need decolonised borders for them to enjoy freedom of movement, rather than being depoliticized and relegated to the subaltern who cannot speak, let alone move.

The Vienna Initiative as an Example of Cross-Border Policy Coordination – Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina

At the very beginning of global economic and financial crisis, foreign capital started to withdraw from banking sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina. There was a huge danger that the domestic banking sector would suffer great instability due to high exposure to foreign investors. The big part of foreign funds was in the form of hot money, and the European banks highly exposed to Central and Southeast Europe had to act. EBRD and IMF launched a rescue plan aimed to slow down the deleveraging process and to preserve financial stability. The foreign banks promised that the pace of funds withdrawal would be accommodated to the preserving of home countries financial stability. The meeting about this issue was held in Vienna, which is an international banking hub for part of Central and especially for Southeast Europe. According to the meeting’s place, rescue plan got the name Vienna Initiative (VI). VI was a cross-border activity with the final aim to reduce systematic risks appeared because of the withdraw of foreign capital from BH banking sector. In this view, VI was specific m macroprudential tool for keeping financial stability. In addition, in a broader view, it was cross-border macroprudential policy coordination plan. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Vienna Initiative came in the right moment. Without VI it would be very hard or maybe even impossible for Bosnia and Herzegovina to preserve financial stability and to prevent the balance of payment crisis, and even currency crisis and banking crisis. Thus, in the case of BH, VI was very successful cross-border policy coordination due to the large exposure of domestic banking sector to the foreign investors. At the pick of crisis foreign liabilities of BH banking sector were 6 billion BAM (12/2008) i.e. 32,5% of total liabilities or 29% of total asset. All developed models show that foreign liabilities have a great influence on loans, deposits, and industrial production. The unexpected fall in foreign liabilities would have adverse and very strong effects on deposits, loans, and industrial production. All models show that foreign liabilities significantly affect economic and financial activity in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We used different techniques to show influences of foreign liabilities on domestic variables; Vector autoregression in level and in differences, Vector error correction model, Conditional VAR, and multiple regression models. All models show that in case of disorderly withdrawal of foreign funds, fall in industrial production, deposits, and loans would be much higher than in the case when VI is applied. The main conclusion of the article is that VI helped BH to avoid huge and long negative credit growth i.e. credit crunch, and to avoid deeper economic crisis.

Current state of cross-border communication in the Southwest of Russia

This research is dedicated to examination of the main peculiarities of development of cross-border communication in the Southwest of Russia. Attention is focused on cross-border cooperation between Russia and Ukraine, which in recent times due to a number of political and cultural-civilizational factor has undergone significant transformations. The goal of this study consists in analysis and discussion of the key indicators of cross-border cooperation (migration, economy, communication) in the Southwest of Russia. The main vectors in relationship between the two countries include cross-border migration, cross-border economic cooperation, and cross-cultural communication. On each vector of development of cross-border communication, the author conduct comprehensive assessment of the dynamics of mutual movement of citizens, trade turnover, character of cross-cultural and information-educational communication, as well as analysis of cross-border policy of two countries regarding the determination of institutional barriers impeding its development. In the course of research, the author identifies the negative trends of cross-border communication of two countries, as well as proposes a number of strategies on transformation of the current state of affairs, namely the advancement of “soft power” technologies and mechanisms of “public diplomacy”. It is underlines that cross-border communication in the area of cultural and information cooperation between Russia and Ukraine should lean on the shared historical experience and cultural-civilizational commonness.

Lessons from the Danish-German Border Region for Post 2020 Interreg A – an Alignment with Cross-Border Functional Regions?

Interreg has been the European Union (EU) initiative to support territorial cooperation and integration across borders. 30 years of Interreg, though, have not changed the fact that different barriers persist at the inner borders of the EU, and that only a few cross-border territories have emerged as joint action spaces with in-depth political cooperation and people’s interaction. While it is consensus that cross-border economic flows are decisive for the development of functional and in the end institutionalized cross-border regions, regional econometric models demonstrate the persistence of border barriers within the EU, but also that the removal of these barriers greatly increases regional growth potential. In a research project focusing on the alignment of cross-border regional economic interests, cross-border networks between business and politics and cross-border policies in the Danish-German cross-border region Sønderjylland-Schleswig we have discovered issues on different communication codes between business and politics, lack of tangible cross-border development strategies and a lack of alignment of shortterm, time delimited Interreg project oriented operational programs to tangible, long-term strategies of cross-border regional economic development. EU territorial cohesion policies could be better aligned with long-term, cross-border economic strategies to create sustainable cross-border development. It will be important to rethink Interreg in a less project-oriented, but more strategy-oriented direction; focusing on flows and institutional settings promoting the development of flows by reducing cross-border barriers.

Developing a socio-spatial index methodology for measuring cross-border mobility

The article proposes a cross-border mobility model for borderlands by developing a multivariate socio-spatial index. Existing methods of evaluating cross-border mobility tend to focus simply on physical and security dimensions of the state borders. However, because of the complex dynamics of relationships among the countries, a multidimensional approach including the economic, social, administrative and spatial relationships have to be considered holistically. The proposed cross-border mobility modeling and index methodology includes spatial and non-spatial multivariate data for assessing the permeability of state borders by using fuzzy logic methods. GIS techniques are used to combine economic, social, administrative and spatial dimensions of relationships for creating the multivariate socio-spatial index and to visualize the results. The results of the proposed methodology experienced for the borderlands of Turkey show that measuring the degree of cross-border mobility can improve the understanding of relationships among the states for developing more effective cross-border policies.

Social influences in cross-border entrepreneurial migration policy

This paper addresses the possibilities for public policy to stimulate the entrepreneurial perceptions of individuals by leveraging micro-level social influences produced by migrant entrepreneurs. As opposed to the conventional stand according to which entrepreneurial ecosystems can be stimulated by financial, regulative, cognitive and normative mechanisms of influence, the present study suggests that socio-psychological influences enacted by exogenous policy intervention can be used as a mechanism for shifting the entrepreneurial perceptions of individuals. Cross-border entrepreneurial migration is proposed as an instrument for enacting these socio-psychological influences and enabling public policy to benefit from the distinctively different entrepreneurial behaviors of migrant entrepreneurs and local individuals in the host country. The study offers substantial policy implications by extending the theoretical reasoning guiding the stimulation of entrepreneurial ecosystems through public policy intervention, providing discussion of opportunity perception in cross-border context, and offering an alternative socio-economic perspective on the role of migrant entrepreneurs in the economic life of host countries.

MEASURES FOR PROVIDING OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE REGION IN CONDITIONS OF GLOСALIZATION AND DECENTRALIZATION

Topicality. The urgency of determining measures that are to ensure the economic growth of regions under the influence of globalization and decentralization of the system of governance and administrative-territorial structure is significant and linked to the formation of prerequisites for the further development of the economies of the regions. This topic is one of the main in modern regulatory documents, international agreements, strategies. Strategic documents on EU development for the period up to 2027 refer to the need of the ensuring of decent standard of wellfare without significant divergence in different territories of countries, in accordance with their prerequisites and capabilities in the fields of traditional and smart specializations. It emphasizes the importance of accessing the baseline territories with their local capabilities and advantages to the global economic exchange, while maintaining the balance of management and effectiveness of managing the development of the territorial bases and regional levels: without compromising local self-government, an adequate level of decentralization should be ensured, whereby standards for the performance of all management functions and the provision of public services will be controlled, regulated and guaranteed by the principle of subsidiarity, and key powers will be retained by central authorities and a high level of control will be ensured. Most European countries have already undergone the most difficult phase of transformational transformation to integrate territories into the global economic exchange based on the use of local opportunities and benefits. For Ukraine, however, this stage is just beginning and the results of the first phase of decentralization indicate the need to include levers of economic regulation and stimulate the development of the economic foundation for further administrative and territorial transformations. Therefore, it is important to formulate a set of measures to ensure the economic development of territorial systems in the country, which must meet the current perspective directions of world, European, national, cross-border policy and provide the construction of an institutional framework and economic foundation for further decentralization, administrative and administrative changes.Aim and tasks. The purpose of the article is to identify key areas and measures for the effective regulation of processes of sustainable development of functional territories in the context of decentralization and globalization and taking into account the impact of institutional support and framework conditions, in particular regulations, international, national, cross-border levels.Research results. The complex of vectors and measures for stimulation of sustainable development of functional territories, defined by economic features in the structure of administrative-territorial units of Ukraine, involved in the processes of decentralization and globalization, has been developed. The urgency of applying the modern mechanism of institutional support for the investment development of the regions in terms of decentralization from the standpoint of compliance with the goals and criteria of the Concept of reforming local self-government, strategic documents on promoting sustainable development in Ukraine until 2020 and 2030, as well as the provisions of government action plans, program documents support for reforms by the President of Ukraine. The key directions of increasing investment activity in the regions are determined on the basis of taking into account the principles and provisions of the European Cohesion Policy for the period up to 2027, the prospects for the development of the Lower Danube Euroregion, the implementation of the Danube Interreg transboundary cooperation program and the provisions of other agreements and program documents in the field of cross-border and international cooperation. Measures to regulate the economic development of the regions based on support for their effective participation in the globalization processes are defined.Conclusion. The regularities and challenges of the modern institutional support of the economic development of the regions in the conditions of influence of globalization and decentralization processes with the identification of features of such provision at the international, national, cross-border levels are revealed. Formulated vectors for stimulating the economic development of the region in modern conditions and supplemented by such measures of their implementation as: the use of tax levers to support priority types of activities in terms of functional territories and by design, economic grounds; introduction of economic experiments to support the development of territorial-economic complexes that form certain functional communities or capable of realizing potentially promising areas of specialization; development and active use of unified approaches to the assessment and sound regulation of economic activity and development of regional economic systems.

Cross-Border Policy Networks in the Trinational Region of Basel

This paper provides evidence of how national and linguistic borders affect the structure of policy networks. Our analysis of the Basel metropolitan region located across Switzerland, France and Germany considers the case of cross-border public transportation. Using a social network approach based on 44 actors, we show that national borders play a diminishing role in the formation of policy networks for both information exchange and decision making but still limit interactions between German and French-speaking actors. Local actors develop different brokerage roles according to their country of origin, with Swiss actors acting as coordinator and representative brokers vis-a-vis players located in France and Germany.