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EU‐Russia cross‐border co‐operation in the twenty‐first century: Turning marginality into competitive advantage
Author(s) -
Bobylev Nikolai,
Gadal Sebastien,
Kireyeu Viktar,
Sergunin Alexander
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
regional science policy and practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.342
H-Index - 8
ISSN - 1757-7802
DOI - 10.1111/rsp3.12316
Subject(s) - disadvantage , division of labour , cross border cooperation , position (finance) , economic geography , dimension (graph theory) , competitive advantage , resource (disambiguation) , capital (architecture) , member states , political science , geography , business , economy , regional science , international trade , european union , economics , computer network , mathematics , archaeology , finance , marketing , computer science , pure mathematics , law
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.