EUDIMENSIONS: An Overview

1. James Wesley Scott Karelian Institute, University of Joensuu, Finland Leibniz-Institut für Regionalentwicklung und Strukturplanung EUDIMENSIONS Final Conference, 7 May 2009 EU Representation of the German State of Brandenburg Vertretung des Landes Brandenburg bei der Europäischen Union EUDIMENSIONS: An Overview

2. EUDIMENSIONSLocal Dimensions of a Wider European Neighbourhood: Developing Political Community through Practices and Discourses of Cross-Border Co-operation (CIT5-CT-2005-028804)

3. Rationales and Objectives • understand implications of new geopolitical contexts (e.g. ENP) for crossborder co-operation between EU and neighbouring states • scrutinise the actual and potential role of civil society/civic actors in transnational governance • focus on regional, social and political development issues.

4. Research Strands of EUDIMENSIONS • 1: Scrutinising the Development of Civil Society Communities of Interest– Co-operation patterns, actor perceptions of co-operation results – Contextualising roles of civil society actors 2: Actors’ Perceptions of Europe– Local reception of the EU’s policies and its political role (including a reception of the European Neighbourhood Policy)3: Contextual Processes of “Bordering”– Political language and discourses that characterise both “elite” and “media” attitudes towards bilateral political relationships and attitudes towards the EU and the EU’s political ideas– The EU’s own geopolitical practices and perceptions with regard to the “Neighbourhood

5. The Research Design and ProgrammeProject Components WP15 Co-ordination REGIONAL CASE STUDIES WP4 – Finnish-Russian WP5 – Estonian-Russian WP6 – Poland-Kaliningrad WP7 – Polish-Ukrainian WP8 – Hungarian-Ukrainian WP9 – Romanian-Moldavian WP10 – Turkish-Greek WP 11 – Spanish-Moroccan WP12 Cross Sectional Analysis WP13 Synthesis WP3 EU Perspectives WP1 Prepa- ration WP2 State of the Debate WP 14 Dissemination

6. Emerging European Borderlands • Extreme economic and political peripheries • Histories of isolation • Regions at the “Edge” of a wider political community • Unresolved historical and ethnic tensions

7. Emerging European Borderlands • By the same token strong civil society involvement in cbc • e.g. Transnational networks of humanitarian aid and cultural cooperation are active here

8. European Neighbourhood as a backdrop • ENP: A new form of de-centred, post-national geopolitics in the making? • ENP is a “New Regionalist” project based on mutual interdependence and “shared agendas” • However, this project also recreates (by necessity and design) elements of traditional state-oriented geopolitics, particularly in security and political cooperation agendas

9. What does the ENP entail? • A new form of political partnership between the EU and neighbouring states that offers co-ownership in regional cooperation policy • Compensatory mechanisms for a lack of membership perspectives • A multilayered and multifaceted cooperation platform: social, economic, cultural issues share the agenda • An engagement of civil society as an important actor in cooperation

10. Since 2004: Securitisation of EU’s external borders both practical and symbolic Formal relations privileged at the expense of local cooperation Regional and spatial planning de-emphasised; CBC is more ad-hoc Borderlands as buffer zones European Union and the Shifting Significance of Borders • Pre-2004: EU integration and enlargement promote policies of transcending internal borders • Local crossborder diplomacy enjoys symbolic status • Regional and spatial planning policies underpin CBC • Borderlands as integrators

11. Civil Society role is critical at the external borders • Civil Society actors must negotiate different and often competing socio-spatial processes domestically, internationally • CS must negotiate competing territorial logics of action at the EU, national, regional and local levels • The interplay of these logics has considerable impacts on CBC (agendas, levels of support, longevity of projects)‏

12. Competing Territorialities • EU: Neighbourhood Agenda of interstate cooperation; supranational community of values • National: Post-Soviet nation-building and identity politics, distrust of subnational CBC institutions (Euroregions)‏ • Regional/Local: desire for autonomy, regional identity, specific community rights (linguistics, cultural, etc.)‏

13. What do Civil Society actors in the “New” Borderlands suggest? • Tensions between EU’s border policies and cross-border cooperation • A lack of policy focus on local societies at the border • A loss of cbc opportunities at the external border as the EU often fails to connect locally

14. Borderlands Potentials • Economic and broad civil society cooperation despite lack of political support • Potential for counteracting the marginalisation of EU’s eastern regions as well as improving development in western areas of neighbouring countries • Buffer zone scenario is mutually counterproductive

15. Emerging Borderlands: Grassroots Pressure for Opening

16. Thanks for your attention!