CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2013
| Author | Svensson, Sara Margareta Helena |
|---|---|
| Title | Social Capital and Governance in European Borderlands: A comparative study of Euroregions as policy actors |
| Summary | The dissertation contributes to the literature on multi-level governance in Europe and the literature on borderlands by investigating local cross-border governance. It focuses on motivation, participation and interaction patterns of one type of actors, the local governments that constitute the backbone of much institutionalized cross-border cooperation in Europe. Local governments, especially small ones, have frequently been neglected by researchers, who instead tend to focus on actors representing regional bodies or major towns. The dissertation therefore argues that more attention devoted to the attitudes and behavior of local governments can enhance our understanding of variance in function and performance of the type of institutions often referred to as Euroregions. The dissertation uses the concept of social capital (as understood by Coleman 1990) and addresses two specific questions: (1) Why and how do local governments participate in cross-border cooperation institutions (Euroregions) and how do they interact? (2) How does social capital impact the performance and function of Euroregions? The dissertation relies on an extensive dataset consisting of more than 200 interviews. The core is 138 interviews with political representatives (mayors) and organizational representatives (Chairs and Managers) of six Euroregions located along three national borders (Hungary/Slovakia, Sweden/Norway and Austria/Germany). A mixed-method approach is used in the analysis of the data, combining qualitative content analysis with social network analysis. Results demonstrate that local governments do not form or join Euroregions primarily due to policy concerns. Instead these organizations are mostly driven by a normative dimension of identity, sometimes in conjunction with the instrumental motivation to access funds, but only rarely to solve policy needs. For the creation of between-group social capital it is important that there is a fit between the motivation of the members and the range of activities a Euroregion conducts. Euroregions for which instrumental grant-seeking played an important role are less likely to reinforce and create the kind of trust-based networks that are beneficial for Euroregional performance. Inter-municipal cooperation is a resource that plays an important role both at the time of Euroregional formation and later into its operation, and dense communication networks on one side of the border are related to how active the members become in the Euroregional organization. The dissertation therefore argues that high levels of within-group social capital serve as a precondition for high levels of between-group social capital. However, evidence could not be found to support the expectation that a high level of between-group social capital in the form of cross-border communication is associated with high organizational performance in the form of cross-border cooperation intensity. Nonetheless, short-time boosting of a Euroregion’s cross-border cooperation intensity (project, budget) through external grants without access to that underlying resource of social capital is risky and requires solid and skillful technical management to place it in the cross-border governance space. |
| Supervisor | Cartwright, Andrew |
| Department | Public Policy PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2013/svensson_sara.pdf |
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