No fences, good neighbors: measuring and explaining integration in European cross-border regions 

By Alessia Setti, University of Lausanne

In this journal article (available in Open Access here), I provide a new measurement of cross-border integration along three dimensions - economic, social, and political - and show which explanatory factors are associated with integration in EU cross-border regions.

Key message to policy-makers at different levels of government: 

It is interesting to observe not only which cross-border territories are the most (or the least) integrated but also which explanatory factors are associated with integration. Especially in terms of the potential focus of future EU cross-border policies/funding schemes, it is noteworthy that integration in cross-border regions is correlated with linguistic similarity, a pro-EU sentiment, and the degree of regional authority. These may therefore be areas on which to concentrate as policy-makers to achieve more integrated cross-border regions across the EU.

Key message to researchers:

This article offers the first systematic application of an EU integration theory to the cross-border level, thereby delivering a comprehensive analysis of the current status of cross-border integration and its determinants along all EU internal borders. This research contributes to the literature on cross-border relations by proposing an innovative theoretical approach and methodology for the field.