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Transnational governance, within a European Union framework, is both a subset of governance in general and an application of it to situations outside its usual limits of corporate or governmental hierarchies, whether regional or national. When such disparate hierarchies within the EU find common goals, typically within a conterminous geographic area, they seek to achieve them by integrating their various policies and activities. The goals of transnational governance, especially for areas previously divided by the Iron Curtain or pre-EU barriers to free trade and movement of peoples, is to foster economic and social development. [1]
The economic development could be defined as the increased of wealth of a country or a region and the social development could be loosely defined as the improvements of quality of living for the population. Economic and social are, or at least should be, inseparable concepts. Why reach a high economic development if the inhabitants living in the area don't see any benefits of that improvement?
In the current global political and economic landscape, particularly within the backdrop of globalization, there is an increase in privatization. This means that business has started to play an important role in the international order. [2] A related phenomenon called public-private partnerships (PPPs) is seen as an offshoot of this development.
Critics, however, cite that a dominance of the private sector and the global capital in the world today is dangerous since it tends to undermine international cooperation and equity among states. [3] There is global consensus, therefore, regarding the need for transnational governance that can regulate and address the gaps on global issues and crises like poverty, climate change, disease, terrorism, and financial crises, among others. [4] The state-centric Westphalian international order is unable to cope with these transnational threats, calling for multilateral collaboration that does not only involve states but also other international actors such as non-governmental organizations and multinational companies. [5]
Reach social and economic developments are already a challenging but it's even more challenging in a transnational area such as the greater region. Some projects were created in order to foster these developments. The operational program Interreg IV A, “grande region” has for main objectives to make the greater region more attractive, encourage innovation, improve the numbers of high quality jobs, etc.
The improvement of the economic and social situation could be analysed through the example of the Vienna-Bratislava-Györ triangle which is a cross border area including three countries (Slovakia, Austria and Hungary) that were once part of the same empire. Good governance could lead to the adoption of a common identity which could lead to mutual support between people, companies or authorities sharing this common identity. Concretely, we observe a high amount of Foreign direct investments (FDI) coming from Austria in order to develop the general situation of Slokia and Hungary. This is very well descriptor in this citation of Tatzberger (2007) : “Foreign direct investments (FDI) play an important role in restructuring and improving the competitiveness of industry and manufacturing by helping to raise productivity and to expand exports. It has been one of the driving forces behind industrial restructuring in Hungary and Slovakia”. [6]
However, it has to be said to huge economic and social disparities could be seen a real threat to the process leading to the creation of a common identity. For instance, the migration of workers stays underdeveloped because of Austrian fears and restrictions. On one side workers mobility is seen as an important force in enhancing economic integration of the region but on the other side it could lead to real changes in the social structure especially in Austria due to the migration of very low qualified workers. An important brain drain could also appear which will make highly decrease the number of educated people who could have been able to develop and teach regional strategic development plan.
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War and was dissolved shortly after its defeat in the First World War.
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the southwest, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's mostly mountainous territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi), with a population of over 5.4 million. The capital and largest city is Bratislava, while the second largest city is Košice.
The Visegrád Group is a cultural and political alliance of four Central European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The alliance aims to advance co-operation in military, economic, cultural and energy affairs, and to further their integration with the EU. All four states are also members of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Gründerzeit was the economic phase in 19th-century Germany and Austria before the great stock market crash of 1873. In Central Europe, the age of industrialisation had been taking place since the 1840s. That period is not precisely dated, but in Austria, the March Revolution of 1848 is generally accepted as the beginning of economic changes, in contrast to political reforms. In Germany, as a consequence of the large influx of capital resulting from French war reparations from the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 and the subsequent unification of Germany, an economic boom then gave rise to the description of these years as the "entrepreneurs' years".
Győr is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia region, and – halfway between Budapest and Vienna – situated on one of the important roads of Central Europe. It is the sixth largest city in Hungary, and one of its seven main regional centres. The city has county rights.
Pozsony county was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now mostly part of Slovakia, while a small area belongs to Hungary. In 1969, the three villages that remained in Hungary were combined to form Dunasziget.
Global governance refers to institutions that coordinate the behavior of transnational actors, facilitate cooperation, resolve disputes, and alleviate collective action problems. Global governance broadly entails making, monitoring, and enforcing rules. Within global governance, a variety of types of actors – not just states – exercise power. Governance is thus broader than government.
The regional policy of the European Union (EU), also referred as Cohesion Policy, is a policy with the stated aim of improving the economic well-being of regions in the European Union and also to avoid regional disparities. More than one third of the EU's budget is devoted to this policy, which aims to remove economic, social and territorial disparities across the EU, restructure declining industrial areas and diversify rural areas which have declining agriculture. In doing so, EU regional policy is geared towards making regions more competitive, fostering economic growth and creating new jobs. The policy also has a role to play in wider challenges for the future, including climate change, energy supply and globalisation.
The European Structural and Investment Funds are financial tools governed by a common rulebook, set up to implement the regional policy of the European Union, as well as the structural policy pillars of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy. They aim to reduce regional disparities in income, wealth and opportunities. Europe's poorer regions receive most of the support, but all European regions are eligible for funding under the policy's various funds and programmes. The current framework is set for a period of seven years, from 2021 to 2027.
Transdanubia is a traditional region of Hungary. It is also referred to as Hungarian Pannonia, or Pannonian Hungary.
Regional Integration is a process in which neighboring countries enter into an agreement in order to upgrade cooperation through common institutions and rules. The objectives of the agreement could range from economic to political to environmental, although it has typically taken the form of a political economy initiative where commercial interests are the focus for achieving broader socio-political and security objectives, as defined by national governments. Regional integration has been organized either via supranational institutional structures or through intergovernmental decision-making, or a combination of both.
Multi-level governance is a term used to describe the way power is spread vertically between many levels of government and horizontally across multiple quasi-government and non-governmental organizations and actors. This situation develops because many countries have multiple levels of government including local, regional, state, national or federal, and many other organisations with interests in policy decisions and outcomes. International governance also operates based on multi-level governance principles. Multi-level governance can be distinguished from multi-level government which is when different levels of government share or transfer responsibility amongst each other. Whereas multi-level governance analyses the relationship of different state levels and interaction with different types of actors.'
Gender mainstreaming is the public policy concept of assessing the implications for people of different genders of a planned policy action, including legislation and programmes. Mainstreaming offers a pluralistic approach that values the diversity among people of different genders.
Interreg is a series of programmes to stimulate cooperation between regions in and out of the European Union (EU), funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The first Interreg started in 1989. Interreg IV covered the period 2007–2013. Interreg V (2014–2020) covers all 27 EU member states, the EFTA countries, six accession countries and 18 neighbouring countries. It has a budget of EUR 10.1 billion, which represents 2.8% of the total of the European Cohesion Policy budget. Since the non EU countries don't pay EU membership fee, they contribute directly to Interreg, not through ERDF.
Centrope is an Interreg IIIA project to establish a multinational region in four Central European states: Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The population of Centrope is 7,450,270.
Simin Davoudi FAcSS is Professor of Environmental Policy and Planning at Newcastle University. She is Past President of the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) and, as coordinator of the Planning Research Network, advised the Department of Communities and Local Government on its research priorities until 2007. Currently, she is a member of the DCLG Expert Panel on Housing market and Planning, and is expert advisor for the DG Environment of European Commission for Urban Environment.
Bratislava is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of the official figures. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia at the foot of the Little Carpathians, occupying both banks of the River Danube and the left bank of the River Morava. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two sovereign states.
The Raaberbahn or GYSEV is a Hungarian-Austrian railway company based in Sopron, Hungary. The company is a joint enterprise of the states of Hungary (65.6%), Austria (28.2%), and a holding belonging to ÖBB (4.9%). In Hungarian it is called the Győr–Sopron–Ebenfurti Vasút (GYSEV), and in German it was known as the Raab-Oedenburg-Ebenfurther Eisenbahn (ROeEE) until 2008, when the name was changed to Raaberbahn.
Rainer Bauböck is an Austrian sociologist, political scientist and migration researcher. Bauböck is a former Chair in Social and Political theory at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, part time professor in the Global Governance Programme of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute and Chair of the Commission for Migration and Integration Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna.
The Danube Strategy of the European Union aimed at closer cooperation between the states along the Danube. The focus is on the areas of infrastructure, environmental protection, wealth creation and good governance.
Gabriele Tatzberger, Territorial Cohesion and the European Model of Society (Book), The Vienna-Bratislava-Györ Triangle The European Model of Society in Action, edited by Andreas Faludi