Transboundary state reterritorialization in the Romanian-Bulgarian borderlands
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2011-08
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en
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Abstract
In this research the process of reterritorialization and the development of the Black Sea EUregion and the
Romanian-Bulgarian borderlands are analysed. Under the banner of globalisation Europe is increasingly
being deterritorialized and its borders are disrupted. While the external border is becoming a spectacle of
militarized border enforcement, the internal border appears to be silently eroding. The borderlands of
today could be tomorrow's internal spaces. The European integration project and especially its EUregions
are changing the relationship between territory, sovereignty and borders. This is also the case in the
Romanian-Bulgarian situation where several cross border programs have been set-up, new regional
cooperation networks launched and a few million Euro a year is allocated to the border. In the wake of the
spatial turn within geography, the rise of EUregions as new transboundary spaces which might gain their
own territoriality should gain much more academic attention. Territory is a combination of concepts like
land and terrain but also encompasses ideas from the field of history, law and political science. Therefore it
is the ideal concept to use when explaining a complex process like the changing of our territorial state
system. It also puts the border into perspective. No longer is the border a primary (f)actor, but it becomes a
second order issue, where territoriality is the condicio sine qua non of its borders. The focus on territory
also defies two-dimensional thinking and prevents overstating the effects of globalization. It shows that
besides deterritorialization new structures see the light and existing ones are changing. The territorial
restructuring of the traditional Westphalian state is most visible in EUregions. On the political level they
show a focus on non-exploitatational interdependencies, collectivization of national security and creation of
an environmental agenda. The overall process points out to a process of (political) reterritorialization,
because when two national governments agree to create a region that extends beyond the territory of their
state they implicitly support a new territorial configuration. This also creates a dilemma, a conflict of
territorial logics, where the territorial logic of the nations-state competes with the border bridging
territorial logic of cross border cooperation. For the national government, the border is of great importance,
since its delimits their sovereignty and more importantly, the sovereignty of its neighbouring countries. But
for an EUregion, the border is a barrier to be overcome. Against this background, EUregions appear to be
developing into cross border territories.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen