Long seen as artificial barriers inherited from decolonisation, West African borders now lie at the heart of policies designed to encourage regional trade and combat political instability. This rediscovery of the peripheries of the nation state has fostered a proliferation of institutional initiatives that aim to cultivate co-operation between countries, regions and municipalities while ensuring the protection and promoting the interests and rights of the people living in border regions. Despite these regional initiatives, the effective functioning of cross-border co-operation still remains largely unknown across West Africa. The purpose of this paper is to fill that gap, with an analysis of both the social structure and the geography of West African governance networks. On the basis of this structural and geographic analysis, policy recommendations are formulated aimed at implementing policies that are more place-based, more attentive to relations between the actors at play in co-operation, and more specifically adapted to the constraints and opportunities of the West African region.
The process of developing cross-border co-operation, though progressing slowly, shows clearly signs of a growing trend. It covers examples not only of the water basins such as the Baltic and the North Sea but also the Mediterranean Sea. A factor accelerating the process and scope is the financing granted from European Union aid funds. In extreme cases, when co-operation develops slowly, limiting of funds or their lack can lead to stagnation or lack of mutual contact. A sudden worsening of political relations between countries lying on different coasts of the sea can also hamper co- -operation. However, the dominating examples indicating economic, cultural and political benefits that the coastal regions gain from the co-operation and the regular growth in number allows for the assumption that the process will continue. In the 21st century Europe will be a Europe of regions. Political and economic transformations of the developing Baltic Europe will no doubt have a definite impact on integration processes in Europe, on their expansion and even a probable correction in that direction. The developing cross-border coastal regions are an important element in the process. They should be a point of departure for further decisions and actions towards full Baltic integration. ; Marcin Polom
On its road to EU membership Serbia faces numerous challenges. Among important ones are how to solve the problems of environmental protection and sustainable management of natural resources. After defining sustainable development and its postulates, the author gives an overview of natural resources, this including land, water, air, as well as biodiversity discussing their inter-dependence. She points to the relatedness between cultural and natural resources for sustainable development giving the 'Djerdap' National Park as an example. In the author's opinion, a very effective instrument for coping with these challenges is international co-operation in the field of sustainable use of natural and cultural-historical resources, from global connections and worldwide actions, to regional interconnections and co-operation including cross-border co-operation of neighboring countries in this area.
Aquest article resumeix el desenvolupament del programa INTERREG i la cooperació a la frontera franc-britànica en els últims vint anys. Això és seguit per una anàlisi de la forma transfronterera cooperació pot entendre recorrent a les discussions conceptuals de canviar la governança europea i les relacions de poder entre els diferents nivells de govern. Aquestes idees conceptuals proporcionen un context per a un examen en profunditat de la iniciativa INTERREG IIIA, a la frontera franc-britànica que es destaquen alguns dels principals problemes i les contradiccions de la cooperació transfronterera. ; This paper summarise the development of the INTERREG programme and co-operation on the Franco-British border over the last twenty years. This is followed by a consideration of how cross-border co-operation can be understood by drawing on conceptual discussions of changing European governance and the power relations between different tiers of government. These conceptual ideas provide a context for an in depth consideration of the INTERREG IIIA initiative on the Franco-British border which highlights some of the key problems and contradictions of cross border co-operation.
CHURCH A. and REID P. (1999) Cross-border co-operation, institutionalization and political space across the English Channel, Reg. Studies 33 , 643-655. Cross-border initiatives are based on flexible co-operative networks and have many of the characteristics which the institutionalist perspective argues are often present in regions that have developed effective institutional forms. Transfrontier programmes involving local authorities in northern France and southern England are examined. The paper explores the significance of cross-border strategies for the development and restructuring of the role of local governance in institutional arrangements and territories. It also considers the interaction between cross-border spaces, the transnational spatial planning regions promoted by the European Commission and the emerging regional politics of South East England. CHURCH A. and REID P. (1999) La coopération transfrontalière, l'institutionnalisation et l'espace politique outre Manche, Reg. Studies 33 , 643-655. Les initiatives transfrontalières sont fondées sur des réseaux de coopération souples et ont beaucoup des caractéristiques qui, du point de vue institutionnel, sont souvent présentes dans les régions qui ont développé des institutions efficaces. Des programmes transfrontaliers auxquels participent les autorités locales dans le nord de la France et dans le sud de l'Angleterre se voient examiner. Cet article étudie l'importance des stratégies trans frontalières quant au développement et à la restruct uration du rôle du gouvernement local dans les structures institutionnelles et les territoires. L'article aborde aussi l'interaction des espaces transfrontaliers, des zones d'étude et d'aménagement du territoire transnationales promues par la Commission européenne, et de la politique régionale naissante du sud-est de l'Angleterre. CHURCH A. und REID P. (1996) Grenzüberschreitende Kooperation, Institutionalisierung und politischer Raum jenseits des Ärmelkanals, Reg. Studies 33 , 643‐655. Grenzüberschreitende Initiativen stützen sich auf flexible kooperative Netzwerke, und weisen viele Eigenschaften auf, die sich vom Standpunkt der institutionellen Perspektive her gesehen oft in Gegenden befinden, die effektive institutionelle Formen entwickelt haben. Es werden grenzüberschreitende Programme überprüft, die Ortsverwaltungen in Nordfrankreich und Südengland einbeziehen Der Aufsatz untersucht die Bedeutung grenzüberschreitender Strategien für die Entwicklung und Umstrukturierung der Rolle der örtlichen Verwaltung in institutionellen Vereinbarungen und Staatsgebieten. Er berücksichtigt auch die Wechselwirkung zwischen grenzüberschreitenden Räumen, die übernationalen Raumplanungs regionen, die von der europäischen Kommission gefördert werden, und die aufkommende Regionalpolitik Südenglands.
