Exploring the role of territorial actors in cross-border regions

ABSTRACT

Exploring the role of territorial actors in cross-border regions. Territory, Politics, Governance. This paper introduces a strategic-relational approach to the analysis of subnational meta-governance in cross-border regions. The proposed approach aims to overcome two weaknesses in the literature on cross-border cooperation. Studies on cross-border regions leave little room for the strategic role of subnational authorities. Moreover, they typically examine strategy or structure in isolation. The strategic-relational heuristic allows for the investigation of the conscious mobilization, forming and shaping of cross-border spaces by subnational actors. It also relates the strategies employed at various levels to the differential opportunities and constraints the context poses. Using the macro-regional strategy for the Alpine space as an example, the paper demonstrates that subnational authorities are not just empowered by cross-border cooperation, but actively shape it as an opportunity structure. The creation, geographical dimension, thematic priorities, governance mechanism and related spatial aspects of territory, place, scale and network appear as key objects of meta-governance. Specifically, the paper argues for a consideration of the mutual interaction between strategy and structure in multi-level cross-border contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• European Union
• governance
• multi-level governance
• new regionalism
• strategic-relational approach
• macro-regional strategies
• cross-border regions
• meta-governance

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank Andreas Maurer, Jörg Balsiger and three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The paper uses the term cross-border region to denote all forms of cooperation structures among subnational authorities across national borders (Perkmann, 1999). In contrast, the EU employs the term to describe small-scale initiatives between adjacent regions, cities and municipalities, while territorial cooperation serves as an umbrella term for small- and large-scale initiatives.

2. Commitment changed and included diverse subnational regions. Among the most active regions from the beginning were Tyrol and Carinthia in Austria, (Auvergne-)Rhône-Alpes in France, Bavaria in Germany, the Northern Italian regions and the Mountain Cantons in Switzerland.

3. A statement of the head of the Tyrolean government, Günther Platter, from July 2015 may serve as an example: ‘Zentrale Zielsetzung [der makroregionalen Strategie] ist es, die Alpen als attraktiven Lebens- und Wirtschaftsraum für die heimische Bevölkerung sowie als Tourismusregion von Weltrang nachhaltig zu sichern und weiterzuentwickeln’ (Regional Government of Tyrol, 2015). Translation: ‘The main objective [of the macro-regional strategy] is the sustainable maintenance and further development of the Alps as an attractive living and economic environment for the resident populations and as a world-class tourist region’.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Innsbruck and the Tyrolean Science Fund.