A Comparative Study of Euroregions As Policy Actors

Social Capital and Governance in European Borderlands: A comparative study of Euroregions as policy actors By Sara Svensson Submitted to Central European University Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Supervisor: Dr. Andrew Cartwright Budapest, Hungary DECLARATION I hereby declare that this dissertation contains no materials accepted for any other degrees, in any other institutions. The dissertation contains no materials previously written and/or published by any other person, except where appropriate acknowledgement is made in the form of bibliographical reference. Sara Svensson January 31, 2013 i ABSTRACT The dissertation contributes to the literature on multi-level governance in Europe and the literature on borderlands by investigating local cross-border governance. It focuses on motivation, participation and interaction patterns of one type of actors, the local governments that constitute the backbone of much institutionalized cross-border cooperation in Europe. Local governments, especially small ones, have frequently been neglected by researchers, who instead tend to focus on actors representing regional bodies or major towns. The dissertation therefore argues that more attention devoted to the attitudes and behavior of local governments can enhance our understanding of variance in function and performance of the type of institutions often referred to as Euroregions. The dissertation uses the concept of social capital (as understood by Coleman 1990) and addresses two specific questions: (1) Why and how do local governments participate in cross-border cooperation institutions (Euroregions) and how do they interact? (2) How does social capital impact the performance and function of Euroregions? The dissertation relies on an extensive dataset consisting of more than 200 interviews. The core is 138 interviews with political representatives (mayors) and organizational representatives (Chairs and Managers) of six Euroregions located along three national borders (Hungary/Slovakia, Sweden/Norway and Austria/Germany). A mixed-method approach is used in the analysis of the data, combining qualitative content analysis with social network analysis. Results demonstrate that local governments do not form or join Euroregions primarily due to policy concerns. Instead these organizations are mostly driven by a normative dimension of identity, sometimes in conjunction with the instrumental motivation to access funds, but only rarely to solve policy needs. For the creation of between-group social capital it is important that there is a fit between the motivation of the members and the range of activities a Euroregion conducts. Euroregions for which instrumental grant-seeking played an important role are less likely to reinforce and create the kind of trust-based networks that are beneficial for Euroregional performance. Inter-municipal cooperation is a resource that plays an important role both at the time of Euroregional formation and later into its operation, and dense communication networks on one side of the border are related to how active the members become in the Euroregional organization. ii The dissertation therefore argues that high levels of within-group social capital serve as a precondition for high levels of between-group social capital. However, evidence could not be found to support the expectation that a high level of between-group social capital in the form of cross-border communication is associated with high organizational performance in the form of cross-border cooperation intensity. Nonetheless, short-time boosting of a Euroregion’s cross-border cooperation intensity (project, budget) through external grants without access to that underlying resource of social capital is risky and requires solid and skillful technical management to place it in the cross-border governance space. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT It is common in acknowledgments to compare a PhD period with a journey, but the metaphor used early on by my supervisor Andrew Cartwright was instead that of an empty room. My task was to bring material to this room, build some things from scratch, organize and decorate. It is now time for the first proper reception, and here I would like to thank all of you who kept me company and visited me while there was still furniture missing, messy stuff was hidden behind unfitting curtains, and surfaces were cluttered with things I did not know where to place. Thanks to Andrew, therefore, for not losing calm in the face of chaos, and for urging me to keep asking questions. Likewise, I want to thank the two other members of the supervisory panel, Thilo Bodenstein and Tamas Meszerics, for stimulating discussions. Many thanks to my co-authors on various publication projects; much of our efforts is visible in these pages: to GergĘ Medve-Bálint, who worked with me for a while on the Hungarian-Slovak border, to Andreas Öjehag, who helped me analyze some of the empirical data from the Swedish-Norwegian border, and to Andrey Demidov, with whom I investigated policies of cooperation at the external borders of the European Union. Thanks also to Carl Nordlund, who was essential for the social network analysis, and with whom I hope to continue collaboration. I also thank the more than two hundred interviewees in European borderlands who donated time to this project. Thanks for many cups of coffee & tea! Some of the places I went to could be called peripheral, but will stay at the core of my recollection of the PhD experience. Many colleagues and friends at the Central European University in Budapest helped me along the way, especially my co-students in the public policy track, Andreea Nastase and Elene Jibladze, but also Kristin, Vera, Stefan, and many others. The writing-group that we formed in the last year helped me through the intensive write-up period: thanks go to Sanja, Anvar, Lisa, Philipp, Norbert and to the Center for Academic Writing (Reka and Sanjay). Kriszta and Aniko provided valuable administrative support, and I am also grateful to the university as an institution for providing me with the grants that made these years possible and for offering such an overall stimulating environment. The semester I spent at the Department of Historical and Political Studies at Karlstad University was very important for a critical perspective on new regionalism and regional iv studies. Special thanks to the PhD candidates for many discussions: Line, Andreas, David and Tomas. Before enrolling in the PhD program I worked at the CEU Center for Policy Studies, and the colleagues from there continued to be a great support. Special thanks to those of you who stepped in to help with final proof-reading: Bori, Heni and Lilla. Finally, many thanks to my family for bearing with me all this time. To my husband Ádám, for his unfaltering belief in my ability to take this thing to an end. To my children, who often asked when ‘the book’ would be ready; Hanna started school at the same time as I enrolled in the PhD program; we used to compete on who had the heaviest school bag (she mostly won), David took a big interest in ‘what I would become’ after finishing and tried to scare me off a teacher’s career (‘you would have to be very stern with the students or they will misbehave, but when you are stern they won’t like you any more’). Thanks to my brother Martin, for general pep talks and for focusing on pragmatic questions! Thanks to the rest of the family: my parents, parents-in-law, my uncle, and not the least to my grandmothers, who have been looking forward to coming to the ceremony where the degree will be conferred, and on that day no doubt will think about my grandfathers who were still alive when I started this project. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration..............................................................................................................................i Abstract..................................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgement.................................................................................................................iv Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................vi List of Figures .......................................................................................................................ix List of Tables..........................................................................................................................x Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Key concepts ......................................................................................................................2 Research questions .............................................................................................................4 Contribution and policy relevance.......................................................................................6 Structure of the dissertation ................................................................................................7 Research limitations............................................................................................................8 Chapter 1: Literature review and analytical framework..................................................10 1.1 Cross-border

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