Added Value of Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) for the Georgia-Azerbaijan Border Regions

Abstract

The European context of cooperation across borders demonstrates how it engages all stakeholders from a variety of territorial levels in an intensive, collaborative dialog. This approach makes bordering regions more resilient to current and predictable threats, and is largely focused on the practical problem-solving of local needs. Regardless of the (non)material benefits the European cross-border perspective provides, the situation remains very different in the Azerbaijan-Georgia cross-border reality, where the traditional understanding of borders continues to prevail. A field inquiry has shown that territorial local communities have not had a homogenous attitude towards the borderline and their neighbors, and that local municipalities lack the power and credibility to deal with local challenges autonomously. Unlike the European CBC, this cross-border context does not include the elements of bottom-up cross-border planning and locally institutionalized forms of collaboration.