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.
The postcommunist regimes in East-Central Europe are confronted with the double challenge of establishing a democratic order and a market economy. The book discusses the concepts of democratic consolidation and analyzes the development of attitudes towards the political and economic system in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia. The study compares the political values in East-Central Europe with respective attitudes in the USA and Western Europe. Special attention is given to experiences of the consolidation process in Germany, Italy and Austria after 1945 as well as the more recent developments in Latin America and Southern Europe. The final chapter discusses patterns and paths of democratic consolidation in the light of concepts of regime change.
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