TY - GEN N1 - 24 cm N2 - The social and political transitions taking place in Central and Eastern Europe post-1989 allowed Poland to develop cross-border cooperation with neighbouring counties. At local-government level in particular, the Czech Republic then became a key partner. Today, the Polish-Czech borderland resembles those between Poland and Germany, and between Poland and Slovakia, in constituting a model example of innovative cross-border cooperation. While the area first played hosted to Euroregions, it later also fell within European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation. And while collaboration between one local authority and another over the border has evolved particularly dynamically, as-yet untapped potential would seem to remain. Overall, this article seeks to analyse the actors currently operating across the Polish-Czech border, from a political-science perspective. These are Euroregions (of Nysa, Glacensis, Pradziad, Silesia, Cieszyn Silesia and the Beskids), as well as European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (of Tritia and Novum), and selected units at local government level. The analysis of the transboundary entities, and those engaging in cross-border activity was of a genetic, structural and functional nature, and this facilitated the identification of similarities and differences between the actors concerned, making clear what their specifics are, and what the prospects for cooperation. L1 - http://rcin.org.pl/igipz/Content/111572/PDF/WA51_138868_r2019-t91-z4_Przeg-Geogr-Lewkowic.pdf M3 - Text J2 - Przegląd Geograficzny T. 91 z. 4 (2019) PY - 2019 IS - 4 EP - 530 KW - Polish-Czech cross-border cooperation KW - Polish-Czech borderland KW - euroregion KW - European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation A1 - Lewkowicz, Łukasz. Autor PB - IGiPZ PAN VL - 91 CY - Warszawa SP - 511 T1 - Uwarunkowania i formy instytucjonalnej polsko-czeskiej współpracy transgranicznej = Conditioning and forms of institutional cooperation across the Polish-Czech border UR - http://rcin.org.pl/igipz/dlibra/publication/edition/111572 ER - TY - GEN N1 - 24 cm N2 - Political boundaries represent a universal phenomenon and key element by which social and economic phenomena existing across space are structured. But both the presence and the nature (role, function, etc.) of borders are seen to vary temporally and spatially, with differentiated attendant consequences for socio-economic development. The present article relates to state borders, which separate certain areas off from others, while at the same time constituting meeting points and points of contact between them. While this would hold true whether we perceive the said borders as lines, areas or zones, the modern-day approach to borders is a multi-dimensional one that treats them as socio-spatial constructs revealing and articulating differentiation that truly exists. It is possible to note two opposing cause-and-effect processes here. On the one hand, there are different divisions and boundaries between many socio-economic and even natural phenomena that sanction the existence and locations of borders; while on the other the very existence of state borders establishes or reinforces the existence of other, new divisions that can be regarded as boundaries (even as they are not now necessarily state borders as such). I trust that this argumentation helps capture the essence of the geography present in considerations of boundaries and borders; as well as its changing but ever-important role, while at the same time generating opportunities for further research, and for the ongoing observation of the diverse processes linking up with the existence of borders. Variability and change of function would seem to offer a key to the understanding of the significances of borders and the influences they exert, as regards the border landscape, neighbourly (international) relations and phenomena of a socio-economic nature. In that light, four functions for borders are in fact proposed here – as barriers, peripheries, lines of differentiation and axes of integration. Each change has knock-on implications for transformations of function in regard to both borders as such and the areas adjacent to them. Thus, by making assumptions as to the fundamental aspects characterising variations in the nature of borders, it has been possible here to come up with proposals regarding the consequences these will bring with them. And even as a process whereby a border opens up is underway and integration is ensuing, it is still possible that change as a whole will falter or even stall, should issues arise locally (e.g. through conflict or other negative events), nationally (e.g. through unilateral or bilateral severing of agreements), or globally (e.g. thanks to external threat, a desire to protect domestic markets or a migration crisis). For these reasons, geopolitical considerations will always reign supreme over other borderland phenomena, determining directions of development and possibilities for borders (and adjacent areas) to function. In that light, this article stresses the still-relevant need for borders, borderlands and relevant ongoing processes to be made subject to theoretical conceptualisation and processing. And this would be true as regards, not only the spatial extent or scope of borderland areas, but also the changing conditioning, consequences and actions. In this, a challenge that continues to be present entails the founding of theoretical concepts for the borderland that draw on selected paradigms and stress the role and importance of border and borderland geography, along with its key subjects of interest. And, where the study of borders being pursued in Poland is concerned, it needs to be hoped that a new trajectory may be found and followed, with each conceptualisation exerting a summarising or theorising impact proving of value as form is given to a full new theory for the development of borders and borderlands in Poland and its neighbouring countries, with account taken, not merely of recent decades, but of a much longer time period. L1 - http://rcin.org.pl/igipz/Content/111569/PDF/WA51_138532_r2019-t91-z4_Przeg-Geogr-Wieckows.pdf M3 - Text J2 - Przegląd Geograficzny T. 91 z. 4 (2019) PY - 2019 IS - 4 EP - 466 KW - state border KW - barrier KW - peripheries KW - cross-border cooperation KW - Poland KW - European Union A1 - Więckowski, Marek (1971– ). Autor PB - IGiPZ PAN VL - 91 CY - Warszawa SP - 443 T1 - Od barier i izolacji do sieci i przestrzeni transgranicznej – konceptualizacja cyklu funkcjonowania granic państwowych = From barriers and isolation to transboundary space and networks – conceptualising ways in which state borders function UR - http://rcin.org.pl/igipz/dlibra/publication/edition/111569 ER -