What drives local and regional governments in Europe to increasingly form and join organizations that span national borders? That is the key question in the article “Forget the policy gap: Why local governments really decide to take part in cross-border cooperation initiatives in Europe”, written by DPP faculty member Sara Svensson and published in the latest issue of Eurasian Geography and Economy. In the article she contends that the story presented by the European Union on Euroregions as based on ‘policy gaps’ has little empirical support. Instead, local government engagement in Euroregions across different settings in Europe mainly derives from normative beliefs, and when instrumental expectations appear, they are grant-driven rather policy-driven.
Eurasian Geography and Economy started out as an area studies journal on the Soviet Union in 1960, but today features articles on various geographic and economic issues in China, Russia, India, European Union, and other regions within the Eurasian realm. Based on impact factor (1.6 in 2012) the journal consistently ranks among the first in the area studies category.