Cross-Border Governance: Balancing Formalized and Less Formalized Co-Operations

Abstract

The paper analyses cross-border co-operation with regard to its degree of formalization. Herewith, the focus is not on single cross-border organizations, but on the encompassing governance systems in the respective regions. That means that the specific combination of differently organized cross-border arrangements is analyzed. Cross-border governance systems are facing multiple governance challenges which ask either for a certain degree of institutionalization or for more informal solutions. Based on an empirical comparison of the two experienced, but differently organized, cross-border regions in Europe the Lake Constance Region and the Upper-Rhine Region, the paper illustrates that the organizational variation of cross-border governance systems show specific patterns. From these findings, first arguments are deduced for balancing formalized and more informal co-operations in cross-border governance systems.

Implementation of Sustainable Tourism in the German Alps: A Case Study

“…The bureaucratic burden behind it is difficult." In the literature, this question of the degree of formalisation of cross-border governance systems is an important consideration, keeping in mind that it can vary considerably, from rigidly institutionalized to more informal solutions [72]. The best solution in this sense is to support organization variety in the sense that there should be institutionalized organizations, territorially oriented organizations, as well as functionally oriented ones.…”

Economic factors of rural area development of the region, financial sources and human resources

“…Even the observed area benefits from impressive natural resources and a fertile agricultural sector, the main resource is the human capital of its people (Arandarenko, Bartlett, 2012). As seen, cross-border collaboration does not derive from the mere opening of national borders that it supposedly helps at the same time to remove but stems from the strategic behaviour of actors who actively mobilize borders as resources (Sohn, 2014), bringing in their specific expertise and resources and shaping the cooperation (Zumbusch, Scherer, 2015), but with new types of assessment, new ways of determining a clear impact (Capello et al, 2018a¸ Capello et al, 2018b, since the cost of missed opportunities are clearly visible (Camagni et al, 2019). Even we did not see quantitative growth in terms of GDP, when taking into perspective the 2008 financial crisis that hit hard entire EU and especially the less developed rural areas across the EU, we still can see, within the primary research results, that human resources in the area are ready for collaboration, have ideas and prepared projects as measures to tackle common issues even there is still a long road ahead of them.…”

Cross-Border Integration, Cooperation and Governance: A Systems Approach for Evaluating “Good” Governance in Cross-Border Regions

“…in order to implement processes (deliberation, negotiation, decision making, etc.) for a "better use of power" 1 to ensure a better performance and/or obtain better outcomes (Leresche, Saez, and Bassand 1997;Van Houtum 2000;European Commission 2001;Gualini 2003;Leibenath and Knippschild 2005;Grindle 2007;Leibenath 2008;Zumbusch and Scherer 2015). In this way, CBG is the "act of governing crossborder regions."…”

“…It is possible to appreciate formalized and less formalized forms of CBC for overcoming territorial challenges (Zumbusch and Scherer 2015) that can emerged from the transformation of pre-existing arrangements among the cross-border networks, developing governance structures that involve a variety of stakeholders (Terlouw 2012). CBC, as a long-term process, requires a certain degree of stability and reliability provided by the governance structures (Zumbusch and Scherer 2015) that depend on the nature and structure of the actors' interactions (Blatter 2004;Fricke 2015). In this way, social capital, expressed as relationships embedded in cross-border social structures, enables collective action shaping CBC opportunities and, at the same time, CBC represents a mean for generating varieties of social capital (Dvalishvili 2019).…”

“…The CBGS framework can be used for measuring and evaluating governance models based on "how effective is CBC for achieving CBI." Based on literature review and the proposed framework, and Scherer 2015;Castanho et al 2018). Although further research is needed for proving if this is the most adequate criteria that comprehend "effectiveness" within the CBGSor even if it is related with "good" models -, this list can be a starting point for those discussions.…”