Call for papers. Euroregions in perspective: Old issues and new challenges for cooperation

Dear colleagues,

Economic integration processes address fostering cooperation. A particular form of organization in the European Union concerns Euroregions, cross-border areas with more interaction for different reasons (proximity, common cultural and historical aspects, people and economic interactions). However, they face some challenges due to the fact of being affected by different frameworks and regulations in particular in the economic field. They can be understood as frontier or meeting places. The integration process fosters structures to enable cooperation. Thus, they formalize or institutionalize an informal cooperation. Euroregions and other forms of cooperation (eurocities, eurodistricts, cooperation organizations) have been raised specially since the 1990s, with more than 150 currently active. They show a high level of diversity concerning different socioeconomic issues (size, productive specialization...). Moreover, Euroregions undergo dynamics and structural changes affecting their governance – the ways they interact, engage various stakeholder groups into joint projects, and redraw their unique collaborative boundaries. First, the Covid-19 crisis brought to the forefront the complexity of these areas as they are affected by different restrictions or regulations. Second, digitalization and platform-based collaboration open new areas and types of interaction among regions and various stakeholder groups. Third, policies and regulations affect the regional cross-border collaborations, such as the recent trend toward internationalization of smart specialization strategies of EU regions. From the above, a socioeconomic analysis of these areas from a multidisciplinary approach is needed.

We would like to invite contributions to a Special Issue of the Revista Galega de Economía dedicated to a socioeconomic analysis of Euroregions considering their synergies for cooperation in facing shared issues and challenges.

Insights on a broad spectrum of themes are welcome. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Growth, development, structural change, innovation, resilience
• Regional and local development initiatives
• Trade, investments, productive delocalization, labour mobility
• Productive structure, economic activities and sectoral analyses
• Innovation, enterprises and entrepreneurship
• Demographic dynamics, migrations, labour mobility
• Public finance
• Inequalities and social issues
• Advantages, disadvantages, opportunities and challenges for cooperation. Governance issues
• Interrelations: cooperation versus competition
• Digitalization and platform-based collaboration in Euroregions
• Euroregions and regional cross-border smart specializations
• Sustainable Development Goals
• Territorial approaches and specific cases

Deadline for manuscript submissions

Original research is welcome for publication in this issue. All submissions will undergo anonymous review to guarantee high scientific quality and relevance to the subject. The Special Issue will be open for submission from 1 August 2021 to 28 February 2022.

We look forward to your submission for consideration for publication in this special issue. Papers will be sent to anonymous reviewers, which will evaluate each submitted paper for acceptability for publication.

Publication: September 2022

Guest Editors:

Óscar Rodil-Marzábal (oscar.rodil@usc.es, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain),

María del Carmen Sánchez-Carreira (carmela.sanchez@usc.es, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain)

Paulo Jorge Reis Mourão (paulom@eeg.uminho.pt, Universidade do Minho, Portugal)

Marta Gancarczyk (marta.gancarczyk@uj.edu.pl, Jagiellonian University, Poland)