Authors

Discussion

How does new regionalism play out at the local level? Which actors and individuals set the agenda and lead the cross-border cooperation there? To what extent are local initiatives embedded into broader regional narratives? To examine these and other questions, the paper will compare and contrast the two case studies of cross-border twin cities: Nikel (Russia) and Kirkenes (Norway) and Svetogorsk (Russia) and Imatra (Finland). By identifying the founders of twin-city cooperation and their successors the paper will unpack how and why new regionalism emerges, develops and withers on one Europe’s ‘hard’ borders – the one between the Schengen Area and Russia. Since the collapse of the USSR and the opening up of Russia’s borders the two selected case studies have seen several ups and downs of cross-border cooperation dynamics due to a number of exogenous factors – from geopolitical tensions to currency fluctuations. Recognising such a changeable context, the paper will discuss what strategies the new regionalism protagonists used to mitigate the negative effects of external challenges and to amplify the positive ones.

This paper forms part of the panel "New Regionalisms in Eastern Europe".