Open AccessCORRELATION OF THE STRUCTURE AND PROCESS OF THE REGIONALIZATION IN THE EU: A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF INTEGRATION STRATEGIES OF THE INSTITUTIONS OF CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION (CASE STUDY OF EUREGIO MEUSE-RHINE)
Author(s) -
S. О. Makovskyy,
R V Kolodii
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
aktualʹnì problemi mìžnarodnih vìdnosin
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2663-8959
pISSN - 2308-6912
DOI - 10.17721/apmv.2017.133.0.77-94
Subject(s) - scrutiny , process (computing) , institution , blame , power (physics) , perception , political science , dimension (graph theory) , economic system , public relations , positive economics , sociology , epistemology , social psychology , law , economics , psychology , computer science , philosophy , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , pure mathematics , operating system
The article is dedicated to the study of integration strategies of the institutions of cross-border cooperation, with the case study of Euregio Meuse-Rhine coming under scrutiny. The main questions addressed here are: what determines the perception by these institutions of the power structure of the regionalization process, in what way this perception manifests itself and how it shapes the power status of the Euregio with respect to the local, national and supranational authorities. To answer these questions, the author analyzes the regionalization process in its retrospective dimension and then conducts Foucauldian discourse analysis of the main policy document of the institution of the Euregio to find out how it perceives the power structure of regionalization as a form of cross-border integration and how it intends to shape the way other entities perceive it. The author explains that the regionalization process is so complex and multifaceted that it inevitably leads to coopetition between various actors that try at the same time to assert their power status, outline their rights and responsibilities and retain implicit control over general perception of them by the others. In the course of this analysis it is concluded that the institutions of the euroregions use many discursive tools to properly present themselves, and by doing so they attempt to assume a leading role in a process of further regionalization, while playing down the contribution of the supranational bodies to this process and attributing blame for its not sufficient realization to the national authorities. In fact, the euroregional institutions have appropriated the discourse of regionalization and established an infrastructure of control and regulation that determines the way they shape extra linguistic reality, particularly power relations in the region.