Bright Ideas, Thick Institutions. Post-industrial Development Theories as Drivers of Cross-border Cooperation

Administrative frameworks from different European countries meet each other in the territorial entity of the so-called “Euroregion” or “Euregio.” Social scientists have reflected on the administrative capacity of these political entities, and stressed the importance of historical variables. This contribution adds to one of these historical variables: the evolution of economic ideas. Inspired by Blyth’s theory that ideas precede institutional change, the article reviews the paradigmatic shift from industrial to endogenous growth theory in the 1970s and 1980s. New ideas stimulated cooperation on cross-border development strategies, thus changing the role of borders in Europe. This process is illustrated with examples from the Dutch-German border region. From an historical perspective, the success of Euroregions cannot be assessed by looking on the effectiveness of cross-border cooperation in the present day alone. The history of the last decades deserves our attention too. Especially the role of Euroregions in the process of translating endogenous growth ideas into the practice of regional economic policies requires more academic attention.