scholarly journals Ethnic Conflict and Economic Cooperation in the Borderlands: Burma, Thailand, and the Karen

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4.15) ◽  
pp. 209
Author(s):  
Sirinya Siriyanun ◽  
Dr. Tipparat Bubpasiri

Since 1949, the Karen ethnic minority has been engaged in an armed uprising against the Burmese government, and this uprising has defined Thai-Burmese border relations. Despite its length and impact, this conflict is easily overlooked, and has been willfully ignored by Thailand, Burma, and the international community in the optimism surrounding the start of the ASEAN Economic Community. Documentary research and interviews with participants in the conflict demonstrate that the Karen, and the armed nonstate groups which represent them, maintain the ability to end any sustained cross-border cooperation between Thailand and Burma. As such, a resolution to the conflict is necessary if the ASEAN Economic Community, and the various other projects that Thailand and Burma have envisioned for the border region, is to succeed.  

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 6208
Author(s):  
Jean Ryan ◽  
Anders Wretstrand

Greater Copenhagen is often cited as a good example of cross-border cooperation. Shared historical contexts and socio-political willingness have meant that considerable resources have been invested into the development of infrastructure in this region. The Öresund fixed link constitutes the most important element of this infrastructure, facilitating a cross-border public transport system which ties the region together. This public transport system in turn underpins the social, economic and environmental sustainability of the cross-border region. The aim of this study is to investigate the issues at play with respect to improving the coherence of this cross-border public transport system, in relation to ticketing and public transport information in particular. This study comprises the compilation and analysis of the perspectives of the actors involved in and affected by the development of the cross-border transport system. In total, twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted. Six predominant themes emerged from the analysis of the empirical material: “Focus on the customer”, “The Other Side”, “Tidying up at home first”, “Political challenges”, “Back to basics” and “The low-hanging fruits”. It became apparent that the prioritization of internal and organizational issues in the first instance could mean compromises, not only for cross-border cooperation but also for the customer’s (the passenger’s) experience. Results suggest that improvements to coherence in this transport system will most likely take the form of incremental changes and adopting common standards. This is opposed to the development of common systems, or of a significant departure from existing systems.


2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 497-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Zhurzhenko

Let us now have a closer look at the Kharkiv-Belgorod (potential) cross-border region as a case study of Ukrainian-Russian cross-border cooperation. Not only is the case of Kharkiv-Belgorod special because of the historical and cultural specificity of the region, which provides additional symbolic resources for its “reinvention” as a borderland (this will be discussed in the last section of the paper); it also represents an interesting combination of (remaining) cultural closeness and (growing) social and economic differences between the two bordering territories; significantly, these two administrative units became the initiators of the cross-border cooperation between Ukraine and Russia and see themselves as pioneers whose experience can be used for the other parts of the border.


Baltic Region ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 58-75
Author(s):  
Alexey V. Kuznetsov ◽  
Olga V. Kuznetsova

This article analyses how the role of border regions has changed in the regional policies of Russia and European countries since the early 1990s. The study aims to estimate the efficiency of Russia’s regional policy with regard to border regions (its completeness, a focus on actual problems, etc.) and to compare it with that of European counterparts. The article relies on publications on the experience of EU countries, earlier contributions from Russian researchers, federal regulations, and statistics on the regional distribution of federal investment in fixed assets. It is shown that the federal border region policy is largely a reflection of the features and problems of Russia’s regional policy as a whole. Currently, the development of cross-border cooperation is affected more strongly by national security concerns than by economic growth considerations. Cross-border cooperation is no longer part of the regional policy. Border regions, however, have received an increasing proportion of federal investments in recent years, particularly, amid the reunification with the Crimea. The study calls for better coordination between different areas of the federal socio-economic policy on border regions and closer attention to border regions’ foreign economic ties, particularly, within the implementation of the Strategy for the Spatial Development of the Russian Federation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 64-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Székely

The aim of this analysis is to follow theoretically the way, how a border area becomes an integrated, well-functioning border zone. The definitions and classifications lead up to the concepts of cross-border space generally constructed in the 1990’s, in the works of Ratti, Renard or Sanguin. The spatial organization of cross-border regions is generally represented in schematic maps, including more or less objects (border line, rivers, roads, railroads, canals, cities and other settlements, etc.) and flows (capital, labor-power, tourists, migration, etc.). Maps for different border types and levels of cross-border cooperation use different elements and seem not comparable. We summarize these different maps and suggest some modifications and extensions, offering a more general tool for the theoretical analysis. The IT age partially changed the channels of communication; thereby the update of the models is current.


Author(s):  
Марина Викторовна Курникова ◽  
Светлана Сергеевна Асанова

Основной целью статьи является выявление современных перспективных направлений приграничного торгово-экономического сотрудничества Самарской области. Для этого определен комплекс показателей и проведен анализ влияния приграничного сотрудничества на экономику региона. Выявлены основные направления, стимулирующие совокупность локализованных активов, составляющих территориальный капитал. The main purpose of the article is to identify modern promising areas of cross-border trade and economic cooperation of the Samara region. For this purpose, a set of indicators was determined and an analysis of the impact of cross-border cooperation on the region's economy was carried out. The main directions that stimulate the set of localized assets that make up the territorial capital are identified.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cigdem Varol ◽  
Emrah Söylemez

<p>With the impact of globalization, increasing flows of social, economic and political relations have begun to redefine the state borders which causes the rising of new border identities. By this redefinition process, European Union (EU)'s external wall forming the boundaries with the neighbourhood countries have also begun to be rebuilt at local and regional level. Throughout this process, new frontier identities are formed with a degree of permeability where the state’s security policies act as the prior issue in the international relations.</p><p> </p><p>Border permeability, that contains grey values varying from closeness to full openness, defines the degree of permeability according to the size, shape and direction of the flows. Dynamic feature of the flows converts border space into a subject of continuous social, economic and political movement. In such places, actors leading the flows appear as the basic elements of permeability and they can be described as economic, political and socio-cultural agents. At the edge of supranational and national border, actors use networks, which are connected to both local and regional levels, in order to build up cross-border cooperation in different aspects. In this context, border regions transform into a space, where local actors develop methods to overcome the restrictiveness of constraints for the flows among the supranational and the national borders.</p><p> </p><p>This paper aims to evaluate the permeability between EU supranational border and Turkish national border and to define the new cross-border cooperation formed by the social, economic and political flows of the actors. In this context, the permeability and the new border identity will be assessed through three type of administrative body (supranational, national EU and national non-EU) by using the national and local level data supported by EU cross-border programmes and by in-depth interviews conducted at various actors including national institutions, local organizations and NGOs in Turkey.</p>


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Rajčáková ◽  
Angelika Švecová

AbstractCross-border cooperation is one of the development opportunities of border regions. Cross-border cooperation (CBC) along the Slovakia-Czech border is specific. It is due to several factors like common history under one state formation, historical ties and similarity of language and culture. Cooperation was realised also in the past. CBC got new forms and intensity after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia in two independent states - Czech Republic and Slovak Republic and the possibility to draw support from EU instruments for cross-border cooperation in the pre-accession (after 2003) and the programming periods 2004-2006 and 2007-2013. The aim of this contribution is to highlight the implementation status and opportunities of Operational Programme Cross-Border Cooperation Slovak Republic - Czech Republic 2007-2013 (OP CBC SK-CZ 2007-2013) and at a lower administrative level to evaluate the potential of local governments of the Trenčín Self-Governing Region (TSR) and three border self-governing regions (Trnava, Trenčín, Žilina) for involvement in cross-border cooperation. In the current programming period of 2007- 2013, cross-border cooperation is implemented also in the Slovakia-Czech border region under the OP CBC SK-CZ 2007-2013. Research pointed to a lower intensity of drawing funds on OP CBC SK-CZ 2007-2013. The main reasons are the lack of experience of local governments with grant applications, project implementation and difficult project administration. The problem is also long term of verification of the financial costs of the project activities what gets municipalities into trouble with co-financing of projects. It caused that municipalities have low interest to apply for new projects.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Badulescu ◽  
Alina Badulescu

Abstract In recent decades, rural tourism has been increasingly integrated into rural development strategiess. Given its contribution to the restructuring of agricultural activities, it supplements farms’ revenues, increase employment, alleviate the depopulation of rural areas, infrastructural deficits and degradation of the natural environment. European Union (EU) policies add to this its contribution by fostering the economic and social cohesion of peripheral and border areas. Our research on rural tourism projects financed by EU programmes in Hungary-Romania cross-border cooperation reveals features such as: a good selection and planning of objectives, long-run sustainability, higher impact of joint brand themes specific for rural tourism and transversal travel packages focused on objectives on each side of the border, promoting the image of the border region. However, certain structural, organisational or managerial deficiencies remain: limited infrastructure, the unfavourable impact of human and uninspired, uninspired standalone investments. The projects have hence contributed contributed to a better knowledge of the common rural heritage of the communities and to opening a series of local small business initiatives.


Baltic Region ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 6-19
Author(s):  
Tadeusz Palmowski ◽  
Gennady M. Fedorov

Until 1991 ties between entities located on either side of the Russian-Polish border were virtually non-existent. There were, however, favourable physical, geographical, economic, social, and ekistical conditions for the development of a cross-border region. Since the early 1990s, cooperation between administrative units and municipalities, businesses, and non-governmental organisations has been developing on an institutional basis. Euroregions and cross-border cooperation programmes have become major contributors to cross-border region-building. On either side of the border, there are socio-economic nodes between which axes of cross-border interaction are emerging. The most powerful axis is the Tri-City (Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot) — the Kaliningrad agglomeration. A systemic approach is used to analyse a variety of relationships, reflected in a map showing the diversity of geographical areas of cooperation. The University of Gdansk and the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University are playing an important role in the development of Russian—Polish relations. Although the intensity of cross-border ties has decreased in recent years amid tensions between Russia and the West, there is hope that bilateral socio-economic benefits will encourage the restoration and development of collaborations and the Russian—Polish cross-border region will continue to evolve.


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