Irish cross-border cooperation : the case of the Northwest region

Revised version of a paper presented at a study group meeting on “Planning for and working in Border areas”, Derry, 13 October 2005, as part of the programme Mapping frontiers, plotting pathways: routes to North-South cooperation in a divided island.Traditionally grasped as a division, the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland is increasingly understood as forming an individual unit made up of multiple connections. This paper analyses this border as assumed, and tries to develop its meaning within a European setting. The academic focus is on regional studies, political geography, spatial planning and border literature, and the paper puts forward an approach to national and regional borders as whole entities to be planned for and managed. The paper analyses variation in the impact of crossborder cooperation in the Northwest region on regional development and the spatial perception of it. The role of stakeholders and of local institutional relationships is considered, and the importance of government and institutional policies, and cultural factors, for the growth and success of cross-border activity is examined. The paper focuses, in particular, on recent cross-border projects in the Northwest regionNot applicableti,ke,ab.kpw8/7/1