TY - JOUR

T1 - EU-Russia cross-border co-operation in the twenty-first century: Turning marginality into competitive advantage

AU - Bobylev, Nikolai

AU - Gadal, Sebastien

AU - Kireyeu, Viktar

AU - Sergunin, Alexander

PY - 2020/10

Y1 - 2020/10

N2 - This paper aims to examine how Russian north-western regions and municipalities use their marginal/border position as a resource to build a sustainable development strategy. Theoretically, this study is based on the marginality theory which states that border or remotely located subnational units are able to turn their marginality from disadvantage to a resource and transform themselves from depressed and provincial territories to attractive places hosting intense international flows of goods, services, capital, technologies and people. A number of venues for the EU-Russia cross-border co-operation are explored: the European Neighbourhood Instrument, Northern Dimension partnerships, Euroregions and city-twinning. The authors conclude that despite some problems with establishing a proper division of labour between above programmes and project implementation cross-border co-operation proved to be a valuable instrument not only for successful development of the marginal/border actors but also for establishing mutual trust and collaborative relations between Russia and neighbouring EU countries.

AB - This paper aims to examine how Russian north-western regions and municipalities use their marginal/border position as a resource to build a sustainable development strategy. Theoretically, this study is based on the marginality theory which states that border or remotely located subnational units are able to turn their marginality from disadvantage to a resource and transform themselves from depressed and provincial territories to attractive places hosting intense international flows of goods, services, capital, technologies and people. A number of venues for the EU-Russia cross-border co-operation are explored: the European Neighbourhood Instrument, Northern Dimension partnerships, Euroregions and city-twinning. The authors conclude that despite some problems with establishing a proper division of labour between above programmes and project implementation cross-border co-operation proved to be a valuable instrument not only for successful development of the marginal/border actors but also for establishing mutual trust and collaborative relations between Russia and neighbouring EU countries.

KW - city-twinning

KW - competitive advantage

KW - cross-border co-operation

KW - EU

KW - European neighbourhood instrument

KW - Euroregions

KW - marginality

KW - northern dimension partnerships

KW - Russia

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089135652&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/rsp3.12316

DO - 10.1111/rsp3.12316

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85089135652

VL - 12

SP - 841

EP - 859

JO - Regional Science Policy and Practice

JF - Regional Science Policy and Practice

SN - 1757-7802

IS - 5

ER -