Constructing EuroMan.: The Enactment of Regional Identity-formation in the European Integration Process

Marie Sandberg; Dorte Andersen

Constructing EuroMan. The Enactment of Regional Identity-formation in the European Integration Process

Saxo-Instituttet - Arkæologi, Etnologi, Historie og Græsk og Latin

Abstract

Regionerne i Europa har indenfor de seneste årtier fået en ny rolle. Fra at blive håndteret som den perifere del i en center-periferi problematik, betragtes regioner i stigende grad som motorer i udviklingen mod større vækst og sammenhængskraft i EU. Det ændrede syn på regionerne skal ses i lyset af økonomiske globaliseringsprocesser og nationalstaternes ændrede betydning, hvilket afspejles i et tilsvarende paradigmeskifte indenfor økonomiske og politologiske teorier om regional udvikling. Disse teorier kan samles under overskriften Den nye regionalisme.

Denne artikel tager afsæt i det ændrede syn på regionernes rolle i Europa, sådan som det tager sig ud på EU-politisk plan og i teorier om Den nye regionalisme. Med den nye regionalisme stadfæstes en idealtypisk aktør, som er innovativ, og som deltager rationelt-strategisk i den regionale udvikling. Fra økonomisk hold betragtes de nye regioner som del af den vidensøkonomiske udvikling, hvilket forstærker den enkelte aktørs muligheder for innovation og udvikling. Fra politologisk side kædes den ny regionalisme ofte sammen med nye former for regeringsførelse, såsom cross-border og multi-level governance og fremvæksten af nye, multiple identiteter. Et fællestræk ved økonomiske og politologiske teorier om den nye regionalisme er således en kobling mellem regionalisering, identitetsdannelse og en bestemt aktørtype. Det er artiklens ærinde at problematisere denne kobling på baggrund af etnografiske studier udført af forfatterne i henholdsvis Catalonien og den polsk-tyske grænseregion, i grænsebyen Görlitz-Zgorzelec. Det bliver belyst, hvordan regionaliseringsprocesser og implementeringen af fælleseuropæisk regionalpolitik håndteres i praksis, og diskuteret hvilke konsekvenser det har for teorier om ny regionalisme og identitetsdannelse.

[1] Det øverste foto viser en række bannere fra Görlitz, som refererer til den historiske provins Schlesien/Slask

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Tidsskrift	Ethnologia Scandinavica
Vol/bind	38
Sider (fra-til)	39-60
Antal sider	21
ISSN	0348-9698
Status	Udgivet - 2008

Emneord

Det Humanistiske Fakultet
Ny regionalisme
europæisk integration
Tysk-polske grænseland
Catalonien

Citationsformater

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abstract = "In the European Union's regional policy targets as well as in research on regionalism and regionalisation, a distinction is often made between a new and an old regionalism. Regional policies were traditionally influenced by a centre/periphery problematic, where the goal was to integrate the regional periphery in dynamic state-centred economies. In the course of the 1980s, however, interest has shifted towards regions as motors of growth, thereby making the region an actor in its own right rather than a passive receiver of subsidies. The shift in focus can be regarded a result of so-called globalisation-processes, particularly the increased international extension of market-forces and a corresponding restructuring of the European nation-state and integration-processes. In this article, we shed light on 'EuroMan': an actor-type which can be seen as an effect of the new regional policies and approaches. Eurman is possessing the ability and will to pursue rational-strategic goals and he appears in the form of an economic agent as well as a participant in political processes. Regionalisation, identity-formation and the key characteristics of EuroMan unite in EU regional policies and New Regionalism. In the first two parts of the article, this connection is analysed in detail. In the last part, we will illustrate how EuroMan is enacted in the Spanish region Catalonia and in the border town G{\"o}rlitz-Zgorzelec in the Polish-German borderland. These two examples have been made possible by extensive ethnological field-work conducted by the two authors respectively. ",

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N2 - In the European Union's regional policy targets as well as in research on regionalism and regionalisation, a distinction is often made between a new and an old regionalism. Regional policies were traditionally influenced by a centre/periphery problematic, where the goal was to integrate the regional periphery in dynamic state-centred economies. In the course of the 1980s, however, interest has shifted towards regions as motors of growth, thereby making the region an actor in its own right rather than a passive receiver of subsidies. The shift in focus can be regarded a result of so-called globalisation-processes, particularly the increased international extension of market-forces and a corresponding restructuring of the European nation-state and integration-processes. In this article, we shed light on 'EuroMan': an actor-type which can be seen as an effect of the new regional policies and approaches. Eurman is possessing the ability and will to pursue rational-strategic goals and he appears in the form of an economic agent as well as a participant in political processes. Regionalisation, identity-formation and the key characteristics of EuroMan unite in EU regional policies and New Regionalism. In the first two parts of the article, this connection is analysed in detail. In the last part, we will illustrate how EuroMan is enacted in the Spanish region Catalonia and in the border town Görlitz-Zgorzelec in the Polish-German borderland. These two examples have been made possible by extensive ethnological field-work conducted by the two authors respectively.

AB - In the European Union's regional policy targets as well as in research on regionalism and regionalisation, a distinction is often made between a new and an old regionalism. Regional policies were traditionally influenced by a centre/periphery problematic, where the goal was to integrate the regional periphery in dynamic state-centred economies. In the course of the 1980s, however, interest has shifted towards regions as motors of growth, thereby making the region an actor in its own right rather than a passive receiver of subsidies. The shift in focus can be regarded a result of so-called globalisation-processes, particularly the increased international extension of market-forces and a corresponding restructuring of the European nation-state and integration-processes. In this article, we shed light on 'EuroMan': an actor-type which can be seen as an effect of the new regional policies and approaches. Eurman is possessing the ability and will to pursue rational-strategic goals and he appears in the form of an economic agent as well as a participant in political processes. Regionalisation, identity-formation and the key characteristics of EuroMan unite in EU regional policies and New Regionalism. In the first two parts of the article, this connection is analysed in detail. In the last part, we will illustrate how EuroMan is enacted in the Spanish region Catalonia and in the border town Görlitz-Zgorzelec in the Polish-German borderland. These two examples have been made possible by extensive ethnological field-work conducted by the two authors respectively.

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KW - German-Polish Borderregion

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Constructing EuroMan. The Enactment of Regional Identity-formation in the European Integration Process

Abstract

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