Regional approaches to cross-border integration: the cases of Saarland and Brandenburg

Abstract

Regional cross-border strategies represent a recent and under-researched approach to shaping cross-border integration from below. Drawing on Sohn’s framework of cross- border integration as a geo-economic model or a territorial project, this paper examines the content and development of cross-border strategies in two German states: Saarland and Brandenburg. Based on the attempt to sharpen the profile of the Franco-Saarland region, and as a strategy focusing on language, culture and identity, the Saarland strategy strives for cross-border integration in the sense of a territorial project. In contrast, in the Brandenburg strategy, we identify more elements of a geo- economic model, since it focuses on cross-border infrastructure and services to improve the quality of life. Meanwhile, both strategies contain hybrid elements, showing the complex and multifaceted nature of border regions. Using actor-centred institutionalism and insights from the border studies literature, the study highlights how economic, sociocultural and political contexts shaped the policy processes leading up to the strategies and their particular profiles.