An organizational ecology approach to EGTC creation in East Central Europe

A new paper is available in Regional and Federal Studies by former CPS Research Affiliate Stefan Telle and Research Fellow Sara Svensson on institutional change in cross-border governance.

The paper examines the uneven creation of European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) in East central Europe. It adopts an organizational ecology perspective to explain this variation and argues that the level of organizational density inside a cross-border ecological niche is crucial for EGTC creation. The analysis draws on policy documents and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders from four border areas in East Central Europe. It finds that lower levels of organizational density in unitary states constitute a favourable organizational environment for EGTC creation. However, rather than enhancing autonomous decision-making in the border region, the paper finds evidence that unitary state support for EGTC creation reflects a political strategy to centralize control over cross-border cooperation.

The article is available on the Regional and Federal Studies website here.