ABSTRACT

Over the past two decades formalized cooperation initiatives between sub-national authorities in adjacent European countries have transformed from a relatively rare phenomenon mainly associated with a few well-known areas (Basel, the Dutch–German border and some Scandinavian examples) to a virtually omnipresent one. Including both larger working communities and micro-regions (Perkmann, 2003), there are currently about 190 such initiatives (estimation based on the records of the Assocation of European Border Regions, Perkmann 2003 and Deas and Lord, 2006).