Nordic Region-Building in a European Perspective

<p>First published in 1999 this volume is a study of regional and local co-operation across national borders in Denmark Finland Norway Sweden and also of regional co-operation out of the area - across the Baltic Sea the North Sea and in the Barents region. The focus of the study is on processes of region-building. Co-operation between regions across national borders is seen as a creative process and as something that has to be nurtured and guided. The authors recognised the need for a work which examined issues crossing Nordic borders and made the information more publicly accessible emerging within evolving discussions of regional governance cross-border collaborations and Nordic co-operation. The editors have featured three forms of contributions: a series of regional case studies collations of data on sub-national governments and relating these sub-national factors to debates on Nordic co-operation and European integration. Authors with specialist regional knowledge examine these processes in detail through case studies which represent the most important of this type of Nordic area and provide a view of what may constitute 'success' in such ventures. The authors also discuss what such processes may signify for general Nordic co-operation against the backdrop of European integration and seek to indicate what Nordic regions may bring to European regionalism. Such a discussion is of particular interest since the EU acquired a new Nordic dimension when Sweden and Finland joined. Contributors’ articles focus on areas including the Kvarken Council the ARKO co-operation the internationalisation of Finnish and Norwegian local government and the Øresund region. The collaboration was published in English in order to better contribute to discussions on cross-border interaction more widely particularly in the case of Europe.</p>