Symmetries, asymmetries and cross-border cooperation on the German–Polish border. Towards a new model of (de)bordering

Abstract

The border between Germany and Poland represents one of the most interesting examples of dynamic political, economic and social transformation one can observe in post-Cold War Europe, being a very successful example of close cooperation. Ongoing debordering logics can be noticed there, but their forms and pace also reveal stagnation, or even regress in some sectors. It is claimed that the dynamic intensification of cross-border cooperation there after the collapse of the communist regimes in this part of Europe resulted from a complex set of interactions on the European, national and local levels. The key objectives there were relatively convergent which contributed to rapid debordering. They started, however, to diverge over time, differently on each of the levels. This process was contextualized in the symmetries and asymmetries existing on the border, which in many cases resulted in rebordering tendencies. Keywords: asymmetries; German-Polish border; debordering * This paper is part of the ongoing research project 'Cooperación Transfronteriza en Europa, una geopolítica de escala local. Análisis en cinco países europeos de buenas prácticas para la integración y el desarrollo global' (TRANSBORDEURCOP). CSO2015-67124-R (MINECO/FEDER,UE). Symmetries, asymmetries and cross-border cooperation on the Jarosław Jańczak German-Polish border. Towards a new model of (de)bordering 510 Documents d'Anàlisi Geogràfica 2018, vol. 64/3 Symmetries, asymmetries and cross-border cooperation on the German-Polish border. Towards a new model of (de)bordering Jarosław Jańczak

Challenges of Pandemic-Related Border Closures for Everyday Lives of Poles and Czechs in the Divided Town of Cieszyn/Český Těšín: Integrated Functional Space or Reemergence of Animosities?

“…Until recently, mainstream border studies focused on studying debordering and analyzed the borderline as a source of opportunities (Decoville et al 2013). The recent COVID-19 pandemic outbreak might cause a substantial increase of rebordering processes and a return to nationalist discourse (Medeiros et al 2021; Jańczak 2020; Böhm 2021) because the pandemic challenged the fundamental freedoms of the EU in a very complex way (Unfried 2020). Its consequences have been negative, primarily in border regions (Klatt 2020).…”

“…However, the reintroduction of physical borders has demonstrated not only the power of national states but also the high level of cross-border integration in certain border regions, especially in divided towns. Jańczak (2020), Hennig (2020), and Opiłowska (2021) analyzed the impact of the pandemic on the German-Polish border, where they observed the high level of cross-border integration, driven mainly by cross-border flows. They also underlined the importance of divided towns in cross-border integration.…”

The spatial dimension of coronavirus crisis management and the role of subnational actors in the German–Polish border region

“…The 'entangled area', however, is still marked by socioeconomic asymmetries, especially between the wealthier yet still peripheral German region of eastern Brandenburg and the economically weaker Voiwodship Lebuskie. Shopping tourists from Germany keep the local cross-border economy running (Jańczak 2018). Another asymmetry concern diverging political orientationscontrary to the profile of the respective national governments -, with average support for the right-wing AfD of 25% in the Brandenburg border region, while the neighbouring Western Polish region traditionally supports the Polish liberal opposition (Statista 2020).…”

“…However, given the exceptional situation of the lockdown with the state decision to close national borders and its particular territorial effects on border regions, the theoretical question arises as to what extent territoriality jeopardized multilevel governance; or more specifically, to what extent subnational state and non-state actors were able to act and interact in a cross-border sense in this situation. The Polish-German border region is selected as a case that is particularly sensitive for politics with spatial effects (Klomp 2019) because cross-border multi-level governance occurs within a setting of multiple asymmetries: Structural asymmetries between federal Germany and more centralized Poland, political asymmetries between the German centre-left governmental coalition and the Polish government led by the right-wing nationalist Law-and-Justice party, historical asymmetries given the German World-War II atrocities against the Polish population and socioeconomic cross-border disparities (Jańczak 2018(Jańczak , 2020. Little comprehensive data about the voluntary interactions before the lockdown exist (Hennig 2020) and the situation is still ongoing.…”

Asymmetry of the economic development of cross-border areas in the European Union: assessment and typology

“…Asymmetry is commonly defined as lack of symmetry characterised by 'correspondence in size, shape, and relative position of parts on opposite sides of a dividing line or median plane or about a centre or axis' (MWD, 2020), with the national border being the axis in the case of cross-border areas. As indicated by Jańczak (2018), following this popular understanding, research on the asymmetry of borders and borderlands primarily uses a comparative approach to analyse differences in the potentials of areas located on two sides of a border, including economic potential. Asymmetry in border studies 'rarely refers to any specific understanding, conceptualization or theoretization of this category and is used as an equivalent of imbalance in some sectors' (Jańczak, 2018, p. 513).…”