Active borders and local politicians as key agents of the Europeanization: cross border regions as an institutional attempt at boosting a European public sphere
Abstract
The aim of the research article is to present opinions of mayors and mayoress from Euroregions Niesse/Nisa/Nysa and Šumava/Bayerischer Wald/Mühlviertel, who are important local agents of cross-border cooperation (CBC). We want to answer the question, whether and to what extent a positive perception of borders and CBC as well as a positive experience with cross-border activities contribute to the process of horizontal (active border) Europeanization and development of complementary and inclusive collective identities.
We collected responses to our questionnaire from 79 mayors. Collected data were described statistically, but also analysed with the use of crosstabulation and binary logistic regression.
Firstly, we brought convincing evidence about strong links between mayors' attachment to the EU on the one hand, and the perception of CBC as beneficial for their municipalities. And secondly, mayors' critical (reflexive) attitudes to historical conflicts and injuries are closely linked to the perception of border as an opportunity.