The enduring importance of national identity in cooperative European Union Borderlands: Polish university students' perceptions on cross-border cooperation in the Pomerania euro-region

Abstract

European integration, through euro-regions, voluntary zones of cooperation across national borders, and the eastward expansion of the Schengen Zone have transformed Europe borderlands into sites of bi-national collaboration. This study evaluates how a group of Polish university students living in the Pomerania euro-region view the new ease of cross-border mobility and the types of crossborder activities they engage in. If the experience of students in the border city of Szczecin is reflective of other European borderlands, than cross-border cooperation has not diminished the importance of the border as a mental marker of nation-state boundaries or the importance of national identity.The ease of mobility across the PolishÁGerman Borderland and the cross-border cooperation in the region marks a new era of cooperation between these two European countries. In an age of European integration, interior borders between member countries are constructed as areas of transition and cooperation. The Schengen Accord, as of 2007, has nullified custom checkpoints at the border and removed physical barriers to mobility. In addition euro-regions, zones of crossborder interaction, are encouraging economic, political, and cultural integration among borderlanders by providing financial support for cross-border projects. Despite the new ease of cross-border mobility and financial incentives to develop cross-border networks, questions remain about the ability of the EU to contribute toward the erosion of mental borders supported by deep-rooted national identities.To learn more about individual attitudes toward the increasing openness and cooperation across the PolishÁGerman border, this article analyzes the attitudes toward cross-border integration held by a group of Polish university students studying in the northwestern Polish city of Szczecin. In-group interviews students were questioned about their cross-border mobility, their awareness of regional cross-border cooperation and their predications for future integration at the PolishÁGerman border. The interpretations of the responses from the students that participated in this study indicate that for this focus group, the PolishÁ German border is an easily traversed space yet an important marker of the division between two different nationalities. If the attitudes of this particular group of Polish students are similar to borderlanders in other parts of the EU, it suggests that *

Euroregions and Local and Regional Development—Local Perceptions of Cross-Border Cooperation and Euroregions Based on the Euroregion Beskydy

“…The Euroregions and cross-border cooperation are widely discussed in the literature. From the Polish perspective, we have the widely discussed cooperation on the Polish-German border: Stryjakiewicz (1998) [58], Guz-Vetter (2002) [59], Ciok (2004) [60], Ciok and Raczyk (2008) [61], Dołzbłasz (2012) [62], Raczyk, Dołzbłasz and Leśniak-Johann (2012) [63], Szmigiel-Rawska and Dołzbłasz (2012) [64], Dołzbłasz and Raczyk (2016) [65], Wróblewski (2010Wróblewski ( , 2014Wróblewski ( , 2017 [66][67][68] and also Krätke (1999) [69], Grix and Knowles (2002) [70], Brym (2011) [71], and Mirwaldt (2012) [72]. CBC in the Polish-Czech border area is also widely discussed, for example: Vaishar et al ( 2013) [73], Skorupska (2014) [74], Dołzbłasz (2016) [75], Kurowska-Pysz (2016) [56], and Böhm and Opioła (2019) [76].…”

The mainstreaming of “vulgar territory” and popular visions of hyper‐bordered and feminized territory

“…The persistence of a state‐territorial conceptual framework is perhaps strongest in the places where its legal and material arrangements are waning in relative importance. For instance, Durand, Decoville, and Knippschild (2017) show that it is precisely in some of the most integrated cross‐border regions in the European Union's core where Euroscepticism is at its strongest, while Brym (2011) documents the persistence of national identities in a functionally binational border region between Germany and Poland. These “habits” of territory (Duchacek, 1986) are notable for their persistence despite daily rhythms of life that would otherwise weaken them.…”

Estonia-Southern Finland Cross-Border Region:what Kind of Cross-Border Integration Is Taking Place? An Analysis From Experts in Cross-Border Cooperation

“…In recent years the debate on identity in the European Union has become an appealing topic of political and ethnic interest (Simonsen 2004, Vujadinovic 2011. A range of studies emphasizes the importance of identity processes in European integration, in terms of the permanence, re-construction and re-formulation of minority and regional identities in already established and emerging cross-border regions (Esparza 2010, Amante 2013, Nadalutti 2011, Prokkola, Zimmerbauer and Jakola 2012, Sabec 2007, Zhurzhenko 2004, Zivkovic 2009, or the role and dominance of national identities across border regions in the making (Brym 2011). The preponderance of local and national identities in cross-border regions may undermine initiatives aiming at greater social interaction and union across frontiers.…”