Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2005, 51(12):547-554 | DOI: 10.17221/5150-AGRICECON
Cross-border Euro-regional activation and regional development in Slovakia
- Institute for Sociology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Social-political transition in the former socialist countries led to a new understanding of borders and created the prerequisites for renaissance and significant activation of the cross-border co-operation. This way, Slovakia along with other countries joined the Euro-regional movement in Europe, which spread since the end of 60-ies through Western-European countries. Formation and institutionalisation of Euro-regional relations, links and co-operation was initially hindered by a whole range of obstacles, including the ones with political background. It was obvious mainly in Slovakia where it influenced the existence and potential establishment of new Euro-regional associations. Rebirth of the Euro-regional activities started after 1998. Currently, there are Euro-regions practically operating along the entire Slovak border with its neighbours. The extent and form of institutionalisation and professional staffing varies. Activities of Euro-regions are merely based on projects which bring funding. Projects are broadly oriented, while the prevailing focus is currently on the economic activation of Euro-regions. There is a lack of partner co-operation and co-ordination of activities between countries and their activities, including cross-border activities and activities of Euro-regions. Euro-regional activities play a significant role in activation of border areas in the country, while they have a complementary character for the regional state policy and regional policy of self-governed regions which is being formulated.
Keywords: social-political transition, border, border regions, social-territorial situation, cross-border co-operation, civil activation, Euro-region, institutionalisation, regional development
Published: December 31, 2005 Show citation
References
- Fal»an Ą. (2003): Udalosti sprevádzajúce pád ľeleznej opony z pohµadu záhorského suseda. In: Fal»an Ą. (ed.): Mentálna hranica. Obraz suseda v Slovensko-rakúskom pohraničí. Sociologický ústav SAV, Bratislava.
- Fal»an Ą., Paąiak J. (eds.) (2004): Regionálny rozvoj Slovenska - východiská a súčasný stav. Sociologický ústav SAV, Bratislava.
- Gasparini A. (2004): The Institutionalisation of Cooperation. Vademecum for a 'Good' Euroregion (2004). ISIG, Trimestrale di Sociologia Internazionale. Quaterly of International Sociology, Cooperation and Euroregions - For Borders to Become Centres. Gorizia 3/4, Decembre.
- Wallace C. (1993): Koncepcia občianstva v súčasnej svetovej sociológii. Sociológia, 25 (3).
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.