Cross-border cooperation in political sciences

The paper shows that cross-border regions (CBR) and their cross-border cooperative settings (CBC)are discussed broadly in the perspective of political sciences. For a long time the focus of political sciences with regard to CBR and CBC has been on the main drivers for the creation and the development of cross-border governance systems.In addition, also the constituent elements and factors of cross-border governance systems have gained access to the debates and have been analyzed intensively, like their organizational structures, their agendas, the range of actors involved, institutional characteristics, negotiations and policy making processes. In this context, also the degree of formalization has attracted specific attention as cross-border governance systems are facing multiple governance challenges which ask either for a certain degree of institutionalization or for more informal solutions. Recently, one may state a general shift of scientific debates in the field of political sciences with regard to CBR and CBC: from a focus on the ‘hardware’ of CBR to a stronger focus on the corresponding ‘software’.
The paper presents the developments in the discussions of CBR and CBC in political sciences. At the same time, it emphasises aspects that still show a certain lack of scientific analyses. As examples, one may mention the question how to assure an adequate capacity for conflict solving for cross-border governance systems. In addition, questions, how to enable cross-border governance systems to manage successfully multiple rationalities in their relevant environment, might constitute a future research field with regard to CBR discussions in political science.