Euroregions and cross border areas in South East Europe : defining an effective model for the area : comparative analysis between Bulgaria, Albania and FYROM
(2014)
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- Abstract
- The research deals with the topic of cross-border cooperation and Euroregions in the Balkans. Using a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), the research examines nine different cases in Albania, Bulgaria, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The research is framed within IR theories and aims to define a good model of transborder cooperation for this region by considering its specific ethnic and historical issues. In particular, implementing Perkmann’s theory (2007) of policy entrepreneurship - which considers Euroregions “autonomous organisations capable to attract policy tasks and resources” - the research aims to define an efficient and effective local authority working on cross-border cooperation in South Eastern Europe. Due to the peculiarities of the area the theory of Perkmann is reviewed adding two independent variables, diversity management and ideological compatibility (Perkmann's variables: CBC organization; Resource base; CBC appropriation), and changing the external factors, from the national administrative system to the EU membership status and CBC History. The research has verified a certain general static approach of CBC structures in engaging in policy entrepreneurship and a particular implication of the two external factors. The CBC organization and the CBC appropriation, so the working composition and capacity building of an organization and the trust in CBC, represent the pillar of a policy entrepreneur CBC structure, while the variables of diversity management and ideological compatibility represent a replaceable added value which permits to better exploit the CBC potentialities. The variable Resource base is a negative constant for all the nine cases. The research has demonstrated that the “cross-borderisation” processes occurring in South East Europe are not leading to an increasing territorial fragmentation of national sovereignty, but they can be considered as a form of slow policy innovation for democratization, facilitating the integration of the present diversities and the socio-economic growth, in light of the emergence of the EU as a supranational policy-maker. The CBC activities in the region have shown a positive tendency even if the path for a maximum exploitation of the local features seems long and with some structural issues still to be faced.
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Citations
Brusaporci, G. (2014). Euroregions and cross border areas in South East Europe : defining an effective model for the area : comparative analysis between Bulgaria, Albania and FYROM. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/48933