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Beyond the national political-territorial borders in Europe, the cross-regional dimension maintains an experimental democratic character. Entities developed to foster cross-border cooperation, such as working communities and Euroregions, are conceived as mechanisms of democratisation through the decentralisation of regional or/and local governmental bodies. However, scholarly debate suggests that the top-down policy-making process that is characteristic of cross-border programmes seems to cast doubt on the fulfilment of a European participatory democracy. In this respect, the cross-border cooperation process seems to contribute an added value to the dilemma of the European democratic deficit. The objective of this paper is to present a regional contribution to this debate through a study of local experts' perspectives on the implementation and impact of cross-border cooperation policies in the southern Portugal-Spain border region and the possibilities for local and social participation. This paper utilises data from two related investigations in the southern cross-border area between Portugal and Spain, including qualitative interviews, focus groups and content analysis of secondary data. The results reveal a positive attitude towards the recent regional top-down initiatives of European integration, although local experts question the potential for the inclusion of local perspectives in cross-border initiatives. In addition, during this period of economic crisis, political contradictions may be observed, and political initiatives related to the Spanish-Portuguese border may hamper the existing cross-border flows and dynamics of progressive integration. In this sense, local authorities play an important role as the nexus between transnational institutions of cross-border cooperation and the inhabitants of border regions.

Abstract:Cross-border cooperation (CBC) has evolved as a crucial objective of the European Union and an object of extensive research. As an intrinsically relational process wherein networks, and cooperation are integral to understanding the CBC, social capital and social network analysis offer a complementary perspective. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews with experts and secondary sources. This paper contributes using social network analysis to examine and describe the network structure of institutional CBC and Interreg programmes in two different cross-border regions. The results address the importance of the visualization of less and more integrated areas and the identification of key institutional actors in CBC.

Fostering border relations among the people in border regions seems a precondition for the future envisagement and success of cross-border regions and European Integration. Related studies to border relations observe the weakness of these informal border contacts and relations. However, weak ties represent an opportunity for interaction, and little has been said about how they might play in the construction and performance of institutional crossborder cooperation. In this work, we examine the nature of personal border networks of professionals working in cross-border cooperation and how they are interconnected with the institutional cross-border cooperation. This paper is based on a qualitative research of two different border regions: Andalusia, Algarve and Alentejo (AAA), and South Finland and Estonia (SFE). The methodology is multimethod, using semi-structured interviews, with specific questions for applying social network analysis (SNA). A total of 43 interviews were conducted with experts who worked in different institutions involved in cross-border projects. 34 out of 43 also completed a section in the questionnaire to apply SNA. Conclusions point out different patterns of border relations in both border regions. In AAA, most of the cross-border relations are weak and related to their involvement in institutional cross-border cooperation. In SFE, border relations also rely on personal reasons. Nevertheless, they all imply a significant value as opportunities for greater interaction.

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The frontier between the south of Spain and Portugal is established by the river Guadiana. Lying next to the sea, the cities of Ayamonte (Spain)

Since the emergence of the first European community initiatives in the form of Interreg (European Territorial Cooperation), cross-border regions have become laboratories of European integration. There is extensive empirical research on the evolution of crossborder cooperation and how cross-border regions are constructed. Also, in the last two decades a more social and day-today approach in the study of these cross-border regions has gained attention, putting forward a more bottom-up focus to complement institutional analysis, since European cross-border cooperation evolves through both formal and informal processes developing interrelatedly. In this paper we adopt a social capital approach to analyse how cross-border integration is constructed among experts involved in institutional cooperation in the border region of Southern Finland and Estonia. Using mixed methodology based on semi-structured interviews and social network analysis, our findings reflect different patterns of border behaviour, all of which have significant value as opportunities for greater European integration.

This study presents a diagnostic analysis of the concept of the Eurocity. It aims to compare the initial intentions of the concept with its actual results from the perspective of a sustainable local development approach, particularly assessing the attention given to local governance and its potential for boosting this development paradigm. To this end, a range of internal documents and press reports of the Guadiana Eurocity were analyzed, and 15 in-depth interviews and one focus group were conducted with the main stakeholders involved in implementing local development policy in order to uncover the cognitive structure of their collective discourse and the potentials and expectations of the Eurocity. The results showed that the Guadiana Eurocity seemed to be the cross-border and European integration entity with the most legitimacy among these municipalities for carrying out sustainable local development strategies. Its structure and closeness to residents’ daily lives, however, were not sufficient guarantees of its success.