Forms Of Cross-border Cooperation Research Articles

Uwarunkowania powstania i rozwoju Mechanizmu Europejskiego Ugrupowania Współpracy Terytorialnej (EUWT) na północno-wschodnim pograniczu Polski

For almost a decade, the European Union has provided and promoted a new form of crossborder cooperation – the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC). The number of such groupings has currently exceeded 60, and is still growing. In Poland, four EGTCs are already operational, and several more are to be established. Among the latter, the recent initiative to launch an EGTC in the Polish-Lithuanian borderland is particularly interesting, implying the possibility of coopting partners from the neighbouring third countries (especially from the area of Grodno). The new EGTCs have excellent prospects but also many obstacles to overcome. The outlook seems, however, optimistic, especially providing a rational use of the potential, knowledge and experience of the partners.

Foreign Direct Investments in Serbia as a Form of Cross-border Cooperation

Foreign Direct Investments in Serbia as a Form of Cross-border Cooperation

ТРАНСКОРДОННІ АСПЕКТИ СОЦІАЛЬНО-ЕКОНОМІЧНОЇ КОНВЕРГЕНЦІЇ РЕГІОНІВ: ЄВРОІНТЕГРАЦІЙНИЙ КОНТЕКСТ

The current stage of European integration of Ukraine is determined by the intensification of partnership relations with the EU in the all planes of socio-economic interaction. In particular, it concerns development of cross-border cooperation and capacity of cross-border markets potential. Because of that the problems of cross-border cooperation between Ukraine and EU today becomes more urgent. One of the key criteria of successful cross-border cooperation between Ukraine and the EU is the alignment of proportions of economic development on different sides of the border. In this sense, an important indicator of the quality of transboundary cooperation is cross-border convergence of regions. It reflects the socio-economic effect from implementation of transboundary projects and plays an important role in the context of leveling the existing threats and challenges of cross-border economic, social and information security. Alignment the quality of life and standards of economic development on different sides of the border eliminates a number of risks associated with the spread of destructive forms of cross-border cooperation, such as smuggling at cross-border markets, illegal labor migration, corruption at the border crossing etc. The priority instrument of transboundary convergence spreading is the institutionalization of cross-border space. First of all it concerns the formation of the legal support, oriented to the deployment of convergent processes. In addition, institutionalization concern such key elements of transboundary cooperation as the functioning of cross-border institutions, the eradication of transboundary institutional dysfunction, and a decrease the level of transaction costs of participants of cross-border markets. Important way to stimulation of cross-border convergence is the formation of joint cross-border brands for each of cross-border regions between Ukraine and the EU. On this basis, should be developed appropriate strategies for development of cross-border markets. Such strategies should ensure the maximum use of socio-economic potential of corresponding cross-border regions, and also should form grounds for the spread of convergent processes within them.

Współpraca transgraniczna w ramach euroregionu Pomerania

The paper is an analysis of the origin of the Euroregion ‘Pomerania’ and its activity in 1996–2013. The Euroregion ‘Pomerania’ is a formalised cross-border or transnationalcooperation between three contiguous regions located in Poland (Zachodniopomorskie), Germany (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) and Sweden (Skania). The analysis includes the development of the links between the three countries in different aspects: economic, social, touristic and infrastructural, and the forms and effects of the cooperation within the Euroregion.The paper seeks the answers to the following questions: (1) What forms of cross-border cooperation in the Euroregion ‘Pomerania’ were the most important ones? (2) Whatwere the benefits of the cross-border cooperation for the Euroregion? (3) What were the difficulties in the cooperation within the Euroregion ‘Pomerania’? and (4) Why did they arise?The analysis shows that the cross-border cooperation between contiguous regions in Sweden, Germany and Poland has brought benefits of various kinds – economic,cultural, touristic and infrastructural – to all the three countries and it has decreased the disproportion in the level of development between the areas belonging to the Euroregion ‘Pomerania’. The cross-border cooperation has brought the participants closer (especially the Poles and the Germans), and the communities of the Euroregion ‘Pomerania’ have striven to break down the stereotypes and international barriers. The development of the relations between the participating regions have been fraught with difficulties; they resulted from linguistic barriers and from a lack of basic knowledge about the history and culture of the neighbouring countries and about the social processes that were taking places there. The Swedish partner has been less active in comparison with the other two partners.

Upholding the Rule of Law in Informal International Lawmaking Processes

New, alternative, forms of cross-border cooperation, in particular processes of informal international lawmaking (‘IN-LAW’), have emerged and gained prominence since the 2000s in response to an increasingly diverse, networked, and knowledge-based society. This transformation impacts on traditional notions of public international law as well as on the conceptualization of an emerging international rule of law. This is all the more the case given the tendency to emphasise the formal characteristics of the latter. The present article, nevertheless, challenges the assumption that informal international law is, because of its informal nature, by definition incompatible with a rule of law approach. The article thereto re-introduces a negative (shielding society from arbitrariness) and a positive (providing requirements for lawmaking) conception of the rule of law. First, it identifies actors and processes of informal international lawmaking and elucidates the extent of their reliance on legal principles as opposed to the wielding of arbitrary power on the international plane. Second, it operationalises a rule of law approach in the three phases of informal lawmaking processes (lawmaking per se, law-application and accountability). As such, it discusses how a number of concrete rule of law requirements related to participation, procedural guarantees, accessibility of norms, and accountability mechanisms are implemented. To conclude, it is submitted that rule of law theories can be reconciled with IN-LAW, without affecting the flexibility that is fundamental to the non-traditional norms produced at the global level

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

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.

A new form of cross-border cooperation

A new form of cross-border cooperation

Twin cities: a new form of cross-border cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region?

Twin cities: a new form of cross-border cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region?

Do Euroregions Have a Future?

The main purpose of this paper is to make a substantial contribution to past, present and future debates about the “Europe of the Euroregions” by highlighting the challenges and difficulties involved in building mutual understanding across (national) borders. The idea of building mutual understanding that leads to reciprocal trust and consequently provides the very basis for strategy-making and policy delivery in a cross-border context is not a new one. Using the Austrian-Italian-Slovenian case, the paper demonstrates that some essential aspects are still not achieving the attention required when dealing with “multi-area Euroregions”. The added value of defining and analyzing the socially rooted and culturally embedded meaning of spatial planning as well as understanding the “region” phenomenon in different planning cultures and traditions and the translation of what this means in an EU sense is examined from this perspective. Building on the evidence drawn from the Austrian-Italian-Slovenian case, the paper explores a possible direction for building up effective long-lasting forms of cross-border cooperation throughout Europe through an innovative approach that is defined here as the Euroregional Planning Approach. In this context, it needs to be underlined that the Euroregional planning scale (Fabbro 2010) is not so much a reference to the formal concept of a Euroregion in the European Union but rather should be understood as a reference to the more complex planning practice that is required to realize stable forms of territorial cooperation between multi-area regions throughout Europe that are characterized by strong historical and cultural differences (Haselsberger 2010a). Therefore, this paper proposes two essential preconditions for and steps towards the successful overcoming of negative border effects and the subsequent establishment of “soft spaces” of interaction within the multi-area Euroregions of the 21st century. This perspective consists of two interrelated spatial thoughts: • The Euroregional Planning Avenue deals with the recognition and proper understanding of different planning cultures and traditions, which is considered an essential success criteria not only for the emergence, but also for the durability of multi-area Euroregions. • The Euroregional Political Avenue is grounded in the idea of establishing joint cooperation and governance platforms and equipping multi-area Euroregions with the institutional thickness required for strategy-making and policy delivery.