ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the design of the recently formulated 'Borders and Interaction' research programme of the Human Geography Department at the University of Nijmegen with which an answer to this question is sought. Despite these cross-border developments, there nevertheless appears to be reason to suppose that borders play a greater role than is expressed in the idea of Europeanization and globalization. In international interactions between political and economic actors it is noticeable that there is an urge to shift one's own borders, but at the same time there is a need to preserve them. The mental influence of the border was found to be of great importance in explaining the pattern and intensity of economic relations between businesses. The amount of physical business with businesses on the other side of the border may be small in border regions, but the mental distance is often great. The cross-border interweaving of political/social/economic relations changes the spatial structure in the neighbouring country.
