The role of territoriality in the European Union multi-level governmental cooperation framework of Finnish–Russian cross-border cooperation

Abstract

The economic sanctions in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis threatened external cross-border cooperation (CBC) funded by the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) in the summer of 2014. The European Union considered several of the ENI CBC programmes that Finland and Russia participate in for the sanctions list. These programmes are implemented by a multiplicity of actors that include supra-national, national and regional authorities and form a dense actor-network with vertical and horizontal relations. The political relations between the actors are influenced by geopolitical discourses, bordering effects and power imbalances that are conceptualised in this paper as practices of territoriality. Previous research has insufficiently addressed the territoriality of actor relations within the multi-level governance (MLG) structures of CBC. Territoriality is present in MLG in the sense that CBC actors from various political levels significantly contribute to the territorial logic of political power by promoting their own interests towards cooperation practices. The research problem in this paper stems from the alleged non-hierarchical organisation of actors in CBC and argues that MLG policy structures do not render equality among the different actors and that they fail to consider the impact of territoriality. The paper investigates how territoriality influences the actor relations in the MLG structure of ENI CBC and how the actors cope with the frictions that emerge out of territoriality. Qualitative interviews reveal a conflicting system of governance in Finnish–Russian ENI CBC that fluctuates between state centrality and region-based initiatives to address frictions of various territorialit(ies) produced by actors.

A social network analysis of cooperation in forest, mining and tourism industries in the Finnish–Russian cross-border region: connectivity, hubs and robustness

“…Recently, Russia's central government has also taken a close interest in funding these CBC programmes and individual projects in order to act as an equal partner to the EU (Fritsch et al 2015) and, as Yarovoy (2010) has stated, to exert a certain degree of control and scrutiny over the regional administration. The importance given to CBC has not been severely affected by the current political climate; CBC has not been included in the sanctions/countersanctions list of the EU nor Russia (Fritsch et al 2015;Koch 2017). Notwithstanding, CBC networks can be vulnerable towards such macro-political changes (and their economic consequences) that affect foreign relations between countries (Koch 2018;Makkonen et al 2018).…”

“…The facilitating role of cross-border cooperation (CBC) for striving towards sustainable socioeconomic development in cross-border regions (CBRs) has been in the eye of the cohesion and development policies of the European Union (EU) for decades (e.g. European Commission 2012, 2017. This CBC creates and occurs in networks.…”

De-and re-bordering the Alpine Space: how Cross-border Cooperation Intertwines Spatial and Institutional Patterns of Exclusion and Inclusion, Subordination and Horizontality

“…Actors in cross-border cooperation represent clearly demarcated scales and boundaries. Consequently, they are influenced by, but also reproduce different territorial and scalar logics (Popescu 2008;Koch 2017). The territorial organization of space meets with crossborder real-life experiences of people, who relate to overlapping, loosely bounded and loosely coupled spaces (Faludi 2013).…”

“…In approaching these mixtures and overlaps, scholars still pay attention to either the spatial (e.g. Sohn 2014;Koch 2017) or the institutional dimension (e.g. Engl 2016; Podadera Rivera and Calderón Vázquez 2017).…”

“…Engl 2016; Podadera Rivera and Calderón Vázquez 2017). At the same time, the manifest consequences of territorial borders are closely linked to hierarchical relationships between different levels of government (Koch 2017), and the spatial imaginary of a networked space is connected to its implications for the dividing line between governmental and non-governmental actors (Hall 2008). Actors who make sense of, mobilize and are affected by cross-border cooperation connect spaces and modes of interaction in their daily practices.…”