This volume is concerned with entrepreneurship and economic development in EuropeÕs border regions, focusing on the effects of EU enlargement on these regions, both within the EU and in neighbouring countries. Particular attention is paid to cross-border entrepreneurial activity. Cross-border cooperation involving entrepreneurs is attracting increasing attention in Europe as EU enlargement has increased the length of its borders with the former Soviet republics. The expert contributors highlight that border regions tend to be economically disadvantaged as a result of their peripherality, which means that cross-border cooperation for business purposes represents a potential development tool. This groundbreaking book contains an empirical evidence base drawn from regions in EU member states and the Newly Independent States, as well as providing a conceptual base for informed policy development. This insightful book will prove invaluable for academics and students of entrepreneurship, economics, development and European studies.

Cross-border regions are newly emerging social spaces stretching across national borders. Globalization makes national borders more permeable and leads to a rearrangement of economic and political interactions. This is particularly pronounced within supra-regional blocs featuring specific internal border regimes. The ensuing opportunities are increasingly seized to create border-spanning discourses and institutions. This is illustrated in the book by a range of experts analyzing cross-border regions in Europe, America, East Asia and Africa.

The "deepening and widening" of the EU has thrown its changing internal and external borders into sharp relief. This work demonstrates that borders are key spaces within which issues such as identity, memory and trust, and communication between states continue to be played out and transformed.

The strengthening of relations between Poland and Ukraine over the last 25 years is one of the most positive examples of transformations in bilateral relations in Central and Eastern Europe. In spite of the complex and difficult historical heritage dominated by the events of the World War II and the first few years that followed, after the fall of Communism in Poland and Ukraine, bilateral institutional cooperation was successfully undertaken, and mutual social contacts were recreated. The issue of Polish-Ukrainian relations at the international and trans-border level gained particular importance at the moment of expansion of the European Union to the east, and announcement of the assumptions of the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2004. Since then, relations have continued to thrive and provide a blueprint for cross-border relations in other parts of the EU. In this book the authors examine the issue of cooperation and cross-border relations on the new external border of the EU. The book’s primary objective is to present the way in which the Polish and Ukrainian parties develop the bilateral cooperation, adapting to the changing geopolitical conditions, and responding to the related challenges. The chapters offer a comprehensive diagnosis of the conditions determining the current and future state of Polish-Ukrainian cross-border cooperation and describe the area as a social, economic, and political space. The EU’s New Borderland will be of interest to university students of international relations, geography, economy, or history as well as those willing to expand their knowledge in the scope of regional geography, European integration, cross-border cooperation, and international relations.

Looking at two contrasting border regions, one in western Hungary, one in the east of the country, this volume is the first to combine an examination of border related issues with gender and economic development. By comparing and critically analyzing the relative levels of encouragement of entrepreneurial activities and gender differences, it highlights the importance of borders within the changing European Union. Despite the assumption that entrepreneurship would be strongest near the western border with Austria, the findings show that, on the contrary, many women in western Hungary would rather avoid the risk of being self-employed by getting well-paid jobs in Austria or working for foreigners, while in the east of the country, entrepreneurship was often the only possible way of earning a living. It also highlights the importance of setting up a business to the empowerment of women in both regions, by giving them a bigger decision-making role in the family.

""This book explores new trends in border areas dynamics and management as well as how cross-border cooperation could or not influences the sustainable development"--Provided by publisher"--