Macro-regional Strategies: Agents of Europeanization and Rescaling?

Stead, Dominic; Sielker, Franziska; Chilla, Tobias

doi:10.1007/978-1-137-50972-7_5

Cited by 11 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Dubois et al, 2009; Dühr, 2011; Stead, 2011). Cross-border and interregional cooperation in general, and INTERREG programmes – an important funding source for fostering territorial cooperation projects in the EU – in particular, are widely seen as a precursor to the large-scale macro-regional cooperation arrangements at the supra-national scale (Dubois et al, 2009; Stead et al, 2016).…”

Section: Eu Macro-regional Strategies and Macro-regional Cooperation: What It Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

Macro-regional Strategies, Cohesion Policy and Regional Cooperation in the European Union: Towards a Research Agenda

Gänzle

Stead

Sielker

et al. 2018

Political Studies Review

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Since 2009, the European Union has developed strategies for the Baltic Sea, Danube, Adriatic-Ionian and Alpine macro-regions. These macro-regional strategies represent a new tool of European Union governance that seeks to combine the community's territorial cooperation and cohesion policy repertoire with intergovernmental 'regional cooperation' involving European Union member and partner countries. By establishing comprehensive governance architectures for cross-sectoral and trans-boundary policy coordination in areas such as transport infrastructure and environmental protection, macro-regional strategies seek to mobilise European Union member and non-member states alike in promoting and harmonising territorial and trans-governmental cooperation. Both the macro-regional strategies and the macro-regions themselves have been met with increasing interest across several disciplines, including geography, regional planning, political science and public administration, triggering questions and debates on issues such as their impacts on existing practices of territorial cooperation and their relation to previously established forms of regional cooperation. Authored by scholars based in the above-mentioned fields of study, this contribution seeks to take stock of research on the subject to date, reflect on conceptual starting points and highlight new directions for future research in the political sciences.

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Section: Eu Macro-regional Strategies and Macro-regional Cooperation: What It Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

Macro-regional Strategies, Cohesion Policy and Regional Cooperation in the European Union: Towards a Research Agenda

Gänzle

Stead

Sielker

et al. 2018

Political Studies Review

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“…However, while CBC arrangement have grown considerably in numbers and diversified in forms (cf. Perkmann and Sum, 2001;Gȁnzle and Kern, 2016), the recent literature attributes a more modest role to them (Perkmann, 2005;Stead et al, 2016;Svensson, 2013) . Markus Perkmann's (Perkmann 2005;2007) approach sees euroregions as the outcome of political and administrative rescaling processes and policy entrepreneurship .…”

Section: Euroregions As Soft Spacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Euroregions as Soft Spaces: Between Consolidation and Transformation

Telle

2018

ESR&P

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National borders constitute barriers to social, economic and political processes and, thus, tend to contribute to the peripheralisation of border regions. The paper compares the evolution of two euroregions in peripheral central European border regions, whose objective is to overcome such negative border effects by promoting cross-border cooperation at the regional level. On a theoretical level, the paper argues for an understanding of euroregions as soft spaces. Rather than viewing them primarily as instances of state rescaling, the paper emphasizes their role as adaptive service providers for local constituencies. It is suggested that their long-term stability depends on their relation to, and the internal dynamics of, politico-administrative hard spaces at the regional, national, and supranational level. While hard spaces are associated with the notion of the Weberian bureaucratic state, soft spaces combine many of the ideas of the New Public Management literature. Building on an organizational ecology perspective, the paper forwards the argument that stable, resourceful, and accessible hard spaces constitute a predictable and engaging environment within which softer arrangements may compete for the delivery of services. However, the interplay between soft and hard spaces tends to have an impact on the euroregions’ agendas. While EU cohesion policy provides incentives to strengthen horizontal cross-border coordination, the organizational integration of the two euroregions remained rather loose, testifying to the continued importance of domestic prerogatives.

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“…As they should allow for central coordination, strategic direction and connectivity, they mix aspects of exclusion and inclusion, subordination and horizontality in unique ways. They combine horizontal linkages and hierarchical relationships (Salines 2010; Nacchia 2011), territorial narratives and fluid, fuzzy boundaries (Allmendinger et al 2014;Stead et al 2015). The four macro-regional strategies set up so far in the Baltic Sea, the Danube, the Adriatic-Ionian and the Alpine region share many elements.…”

Section: Cross-border Network Mobilization In the Alpine Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regions can gather actors behind their priorities in the action groups, set the agenda of cooperation and call for changes in EU and national policies (Sielker 2016). They build an interface between their subnational constituencies and the EU, can gain direct information on EU procedures and positions and streamline EU funds (Stead et al 2015). Their activities also frame broader ideas of Alpine cooperation and regional policy in an EU, transnational and national framework.…”

Section: The Use Of Connectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

De-and re-bordering the Alpine Space: how Cross-border Cooperation Intertwines Spatial and Institutional Patterns of Exclusion and Inclusion, Subordination and Horizontality

Plangger

2018

Journal of Borderlands Studies

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During the last years, scholars have broken up dichotomies that have shaped our understanding of cross-border cooperation. In geography, the confrontation between a territorial and a relational reading of space has given way to approaches that stress their dialogue. In political science, a struggle between a focus on government and governance has shifted towards a recognition of their coexistence. In this sense, cross-border networks no longer appear as antipodes to territorial borders, scalar relationships, sectoral differentiation and political hierarchies. Rather, they constitute and condition each other. While both geography and political science stress how connections mingle with patterns of exclusion and subordination, scholars rarely bring spatial and institutional accounts together. This paper aims at bridging the gap between spatial and institutional approaches of cross-border cooperation. With regard to theory, it embeds similarities in their ontological focus on structures and strategies in a strategicrelational approach. Empirically, the paper examines the EU macro-regional strategy for the Alpine space. The conclusions imply that the macro-regional strategy embodies a dynamic balance of spatial and institutional boundlessness and boundaries.

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Macro-regional Strategies: Agents of Europeanization and Rescaling?

Cited by 11 publications

References 45 publications

Macro-regional Strategies, Cohesion Policy and Regional Cooperation in the European Union: Towards a Research Agenda

Macro-regional Strategies, Cohesion Policy and Regional Cooperation in the European Union: Towards a Research Agenda

Euroregions as Soft Spaces: Between Consolidation and Transformation

De-and re-bordering the Alpine Space: how Cross-border Cooperation Intertwines Spatial and Institutional Patterns of Exclusion and Inclusion, Subordination and Horizontality

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