Antagonistic structures in border areas: Local milieux and local politics in the Polish-German twin city Gubin/Guben |
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Authors: | Ulf Matthiesen Hans-Joachim Bürkner |
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Institution: | (1) Institut für Regionalentwicklung und Strukturplanung, Flakenstr, 28–31, D-15537 Erkner, Germany |
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Abstract: | Cross-border communication and co-operation at the Eastern fringe of the European Union seems so far to have been a matter
of political initiative and a lot of good will at the levels of national, regional and local governance. This article maintains
that everyday culture must be given more notice when cross-border activities are regarded at the local level, especially in
twin cities. The case of the German-Polish twin city Guben/Gubin reveals a strong tendency towards a new divergence of thought
and action between formal and informal levels of action, namely the level of local politics and governance and the level of
local everyday milieux. While the politics of Euroregions, local administrations and local governments is very often directed
towards establishing symbolic gestures of border-crossing and mutual understanding, social milieux at the ‘base’ of local
societies are rather driven by a paradoxical mixture of hope, anxiety, resentments and prejudice, thus producing contradictions
and even conflict with official political initiative.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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Keywords: | border milieux cross-border communication German-Polish border Gubin/Guben institutionalization local politics |
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