EU‐Russia cross‐border co‐operation in the twenty‐first century: Turning marginality into competitive advantage

This paper aims to examine how Russian north‐western regions and municipalities use their marginal/border position as a resource to build a sustainable development strategy. Theoretically, this study is based on the marginality theory which states that border or remotely located subnational units ar...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Regional Science Policy & Practice
Main Authors: Nikolai Bobylev, Sebastien Gadal, Viktar Kireyeu, Alexander Sergunin
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1111/rsp3.12316
Description
Summary:This paper aims to examine how Russian north‐western regions and municipalities use their marginal/border position as a resource to build a sustainable development strategy. Theoretically, this study is based on the marginality theory which states that border or remotely located subnational units are able to turn their marginality from disadvantage to a resource and transform themselves from depressed and provincial territories to attractive places hosting intense international flows of goods, services, capital, technologies and people. A number of venues for the EU‐Russia cross‐border co‐operation are explored: the European Neighbourhood Instrument, Northern Dimension partnerships, Euroregions and city‐twinning. The authors conclude that despite some problems with establishing a proper division of labour between above programmes and project implementation cross‐border co‐operation proved to be a valuable instrument not only for successful development of the marginal/border actors but also for establishing mutual trust and collaborative relations between Russia and neighbouring EU countries. Este artículo tiene como objetivo examinar cómo las regiones y municipios del noroeste de Rusia utilizan su posición remota/fronteriza como un recurso para construir una estrategia de desarrollo sostenible. Teóricamente, este estudio se basa en la teoría de la marginalidad que afirma que las unidades subnacionales fronterizas o situadas en lugares remotos son capaces de convertir su marginalidad, pasando de ser una desventaja a ser un recurso y transformarse para pasar de territorios deprimidos y provinciales a ser lugares atractivos que albergan intensos flujos internacionales de bienes, servicios, capital, tecnologías y personas. En el artículo se exploran varios formatos para la cooperación transfronteriza UE‐Rusia: el Instrumento Europeo de Vecindad, los consorcios de la Dimensión Septentrional, las Euroregiones y el hermanamiento entre ciudades. Los autores llegan a la conclusión de que, a pesar de ciertos problemas ...