Determinants of Cross-Border Cooperation in the German-Polish Borderlands

Border regions are peripheries. Remote from the national centre, they usually suffer from low population density and a weak economy. On the other hand, according to the European regional policy goals and financial instruments as Interreg, border regions are places where European integration can be tested. Laboratories of integration or microcosms of Europeanness are labels frequently attributed to borderlands. However, they are also places where two nations, two state systems, two languages and cultures come together and could learn or isolate from each other. Thus, they provide fertile ground for populism and far-right movements. Nevertheless, border location is very often used as a distinguishing feature and resource by local authorities. Thus, the structural interdependence manifests itself through cross-border structures and development strategies. Cross-border cooperation offers the opportunity to overcome economic and social problems, also beyond the nation states. By implementing the concept of embedded bilateralism (Krotz/Schild 2012), the paper aims to identify the enhancing and inhibiting factors of the German-Polish cross-border cooperation. It is based on the semi-structured interviews with German and Polish elites from border region. The following questions will be addressed: Which factors and motives determine the cross-border cooperation? Which impact do historical legacy and asymmetry have on the development of transborder collaboration? Which role do EU and state actors play in the establishment and sustainability of cross-border structures?