Suchergebnisse

The cross-border cooperation (CBC) has been subject of study since eighties, and there is a wide empirical research since the implementation of first community initiatives like Interreg, receiving much of attention from the institutional realm. However, in last decade there has been an interest in the study of CBC from different disciplines which try to deliver the reaiity of day to day in border regions and the cross-border cooperation focused in the study of identities, border citizens' perspective and informal border relations. At the same time, the study of social capital (SC) has emerged in the last decades and is applied to diverse fields of interest. Among them the cross-border cooperation is a new and interesting area of research. The SC refers to the study of social relations and aspects like trust that facilitate the collective action. Social capita! can be approached in its cognitive (trust, norms), and/or structural (networks) dimension with the development of the social network analysis, an empirical mathematic method that explains systematically how with the investment on networks or relations social actors are capable to obtain benefits or to pursuit a certain collective action. In this context, this thesis tries to unify the institutional and more formal approach of CBC with a more social and informal based on SC theories and application of network analysis to offer a new approach to the study of CBC. The main goal is to study the construction of the cross-border social capital emerged from the institutional cross- border cooperation, focused on experts and institutions participating in EU cross-border cooperation; and to compare how is developed this cross-border social capita! in two different cross-border regions: Alentejo-Algarve- Andalucla and Southern Finland-Estonia. The methodology is qualitative-quantitative, using first a semi-structured interviews with a questionnaire and a module of social network analysis applied to 45 experts on CBC; second, the network analysis of the secondary data of approved projects of the interreg A programme 2007-2013 in each cross-border region. This research aims to contribute to the lack of research from sociology and social capital on cross-border cooperation. From another prism of analysis results will try to shed some light into the reaiity of day to day CBC in these two different and distant cross-border regions within the European Union. ; La cooperación transfronteriza (CTF) ha sido objeto de estudio desde los ochenta, y hay una amplia investigación desde el desarrollo de los primeros programas Interreg, recibiendo gran interés sobre todo en el marco institucional. Sin embargo, en las ultimo décadas ha habido un gran interés en el estudio de la CTF desde distintas disciplinas que tratan de abordar la realidad del día a día en la regiones fronterizas y ia cooperación transfronteriza centrada más en el estudio de identidades, 1a visión de ios ciudadanos y las relaciones fronterizas informales. Al mismo tiempo, el estudio del capital social (CS) ha surgido en las últimas décadas y ha sido aplicado a distintos campos de interés. Entre ellos, la cooperación transfronteriza es un campo nuevo e interesante de investigación. El CS insta al estudio de relaciones sociales y aspectos como la confianza, que facilitan la acción colectiva. El CS puede ser abordado en su dimensión cognitiva (confianza, normas) y/o estructural (redes) con el desarrollo del análisis de redes sociales, un método empírico matemático que explica sistemáticamente como con la inversión en redes o relaciones sociales los actores sociales son capaces de obtener beneficios o alcanzar una determinada acción colectiva. En este contexto esta tesis intenta unificar el estudio de la cooperación transfronteriza más institucional y formal con e! estudio social e informal basado en teorías del capital social y el uso del análisis de redes sociales. Para ofrecer un nuevo enfoque a la investigación de la CTF. El principal objetivo es abordar la construcción del capital social transfronterizo que surge de la cooperación transfronteriza institucional a través de los expertos y las instituciones que participan en la cooperación transfronteriza de la UE, y comparar como se desarrolla este capital social transfronterizo en dos regiones transfronterizas distintas: Alentejo-Algarve-Andalucía y Sur de Finlandla-Estonia. La metodología usada es cuantitativa-cualitativa, basada primero en entrevistas semiestructuradas con un cuestionario y un módulo de análisis de redes aplicado a 45 expertos en CTF; segundo, el análisis de redes de datos secundarios de los proyectos aprobados en los programas Interreg 2007-2013 en cada reglón transfronteriza. Esta investigación persigue contribuir a la falta de investigación desde la sociología y el capital social en el ámbito de la cooperación transfronteriza. Desde otro prisma de análisis los resultados intentaran ofrecen alguna luz sobre la realidad de CTF en el día a día en estas dos regiones distintas y distantes dentro de la UE.

Cross-border cooperation (CBC) has evolved as a crucial objective of the European Union and an object of extensive research. As an intrinsically relational process wherein networks, and cooperation are integral to understanding the CBC, social capital and social network analysis offer a complementary perspective. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews with experts and secondary sources. This paper contributes using social network analysis to examine and describe the network structure of institutional CBC and Interreg programmes in two different cross-border regions. The results address the importance of the visualization of less and more integrated areas and the identification of key institutional actors in CBC.

Beyond the national political-territorial borders in Europe, the cross-regional dimension maintains an experimental democratic character. Entities developed to foster cross- border cooperation, such as working communities and Euroregions, are conceived as mechanisms of democratisation through the decentralisation of regional or/and local governmental bodies. However, scholarly debate suggests that the top-down policy- making process that is characteristic of cross-border programmes seems to cast doubt on the fulfilment of a European participatory democracy. In this respect, the cross-border cooperation process seems to contribute to an added value to the dilemma of the European democratic deficit. The objective of this paper is to present a regional contribution to this debate through a study of local experts' perspectives on the implementation and impact of cross-border cooperation policies in the southern Portugal-Spain border region and the possibilities for local and social participation. This paper utilises data from two related investigations in the southern cross-border area between Portugal and Spain, including qualitative interviews, focus groups, and content analysis of secondary data. The results reveal a positive attitude towards the recent regional top-down initiatives of European integration, although local experts question the potential for the inclusion of local perspectives in cross-border initiatives. Additionally, during this period of economic crisis, political contradictions may be observed, and political initiatives related to the Spanish-Portugal border may hamper the existing cross-border flows and dynamics of progressive integration. In this sense, local authorities play an important role as the nexus between transnational institutions of cross-border cooperation and the inhabitants of border regions.

The concept of governance in the specialized literature is shown to be multidimensional and polysemic. Its development and meaning are marked by the fields in which it is implemented. Notions of governance range from generic approaches with ethical nuances, originating in public management, to more limited and pragmatic approaches, clearly situated in the effective and efficient management of corporate decision-making systems. This paper shows that the concept of governance is applied in a field of activity with a high socio-environmental and economic impact, namely mining. For this purpose, a mixed method study of a database of 186 specialized bibliographical references was undertaken, combining content analysis and conceptual network analysis. The results revealed four models of governance, differing from each other but also with interesting overlaps in theory and application, showing parallels with the specific meanings of governance theories of a more general scope. Mining assumes governance as key to the environment and, as a consequence, to the business. It increasingly sees the environment as complex, difficult and risky, and therefore mining companies tend to consider specific environmental features (natural, social, economic and political) in the internal and external management of their operations. The negative external effects of the extractive industry have forced it to rethink corporate governance beyond internal corporate management, focused until recently (perhaps even today) on economic efficiency. ; Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Huelva / CBUA This work was funded by Operational Program FEDER 2014–2020 and by the Consejería de Economía y Conocimiento (Regional Government) Andalusia, Spain. Research Project Code: 201899902162467. Title: "Governance and social impact assessment: towards the sustainability of mining projects".

This study presents a diagnostic analysis of the concept of the Eurocity. It aims to compare the initial intentions of the concept with its actual results from the perspective of a sustainable local development approach, particularly assessing the attention given to local governance and its potential for boosting this development paradigm. To this end, a range of internal documents and press reports of the Guadiana Eurocity were analyzed, and 15 in-depth interviews and one focus group were conducted with the main stakeholders involved in implementing local development policy in order to uncover the cognitive structure of their collective discourse and the potentials and expectations of the Eurocity. The results showed that the Guadiana Eurocity seemed to be the cross-border and European integration entity with the most legitimacy among these municipalities for carrying out sustainable local development strategies. Its structure and closeness to residents' daily lives, however, were not su cient guarantees of its success. ; This research was funded by Secretara General de Acción Exterior, of Junta de Andalucía, grant Convocatoria para el foment de la cooperación transfronteriza en la Eurorregión Alentejo-Algarve-Andalucía (BOJA Nº 99, 24 May 2018). Hugo Pinto gratefully acknowledges the financial support from FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia to his research contract (DL57/2016/CP1341/CT0013).

This study presents a diagnostic analysis of the concept of the Eurocity. It aims to compare the initial intentions of the concept with its actual results from the perspective of a sustainable local development approach, particularly assessing the attention given to local governance and its potential for boosting this development paradigm. To this end, a range of internal documents and press reports of the Guadiana Eurocity were analyzed, and 15 in-depth interviews and one focus group were conducted with the main stakeholders involved in implementing local development policy in order to uncover the cognitive structure of their collective discourse and the potentials and expectations of the Eurocity. The results showed that the Guadiana Eurocity seemed to be the cross-border and European integration entity with the most legitimacy among these municipalities for carrying out sustainable local development strategies. Its structure and closeness to residents' daily lives, however, were not sufficient guarantees of its success.

En las últimas décadas, las administraciones locales han adquirido progresivamente mayor protagonismo en la gestión urbana. En este contexto, las políticas urbanas (PP.UU.) como instrumentos para la mejora de las ciudades, resultan indispensables para la mejora de la calidad de vida de la ciudadanía. Esta razón, junto a derechos como proximidad o inclusión social, son compartidos por los Servicios Sociales (SS.SS.) y además guardan coherencia con los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible. La finalidad de esta investigación se centra en relacionar precisamente los conceptos de política urbana (P.U.) y SS.SS. con intención de recopilar, indagar y sintetizar la evidencia cualitativa, cuantitativa y mixta en torno a esta relación. Se realiza una investigación primaria que explora las temáticas que enfocan los estudios elegidos desde las bases de datos WOS, Scopus y 1finder (carácter complementario). Se evalúa la calidad de los hallazgos con una síntesis de evidencia cualitativa, cuantitativa y mixta, basada en el método Mixed-Methods Appraisal Tool. En cuanto a los resultados, por un lado, destacar que existe una mayoría de estudios con diseño cualitativo (n = 18) de un total de 23 estudios incluidos en la revisión, otros artículos comprenden diseños de estudios cuantitativos (n = 3) y mixtos (n = 2). Por otro lado, EE.UU. protagoniza el primer puesto como país objeto de estudio de estas obras (n = 6) y también las ciudades de gran tamaño poblacional (n = 13). Por último, reseñar que existe un diferente desarrollo de los artículos en los diferentes países con respecto a las PP.UU. centradas en los SS.SS., una diversidad temática influenciada por el concepto de gestión urbana.

"The frontier between the south of Spain and Portugal is established by the river Guadiana. Next to the sea, the cities of Ayamonte (Spain) and Vila Real de Santo António (Portugal) are facing each other on opposite banks of the river. The research on which this chapter is based focuses on these two cities. The authors study specifically personal and social relationships and processes of the identity building of experts on cross-border cooperation in the southern European cross-border area of Spain and Portugal. Are the experts who are frequently involved in cross-border experiences, as a result of their personal and professional lives, experiencing or having transnational lives and transnational flows? To answer this question the authors analysed the biographies of a wide range of people with different life experiences regarding cross-border cooperation in both countries. The interviews were open-ended and included a structured module for analysing the social networks of the respondents. The results suggest that there are no traces of a significant transnational character in the relationships established in this particular cross-border area." (author's abstract)

CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND DISINFORMATION IN ANDALUSIA. Executive Report, 2019. 5th Wave of the Citizen Panel for Social Research in Andalusia (EP-1707, PIE 201710E018, IESA/CSIC, www.panelpacis.net). ; Teoría de la conspiración y desinformación. IESA-CSIC. EP-1707 5ª Ola. Panel Ciudadano para la Investigación Social en Andalucía (EP-1707, PIE 201710E018). http://ww.panelpacis.net. Researchers: Estrella Gualda (PI), Joaquina Castillo Algarra, Teresa González-Gómez, Elena Morales Marente, Marisol Palacios Gálvez, Carolina Rebollo, and Iván Rodríguez-Pascual (from the Universidad de Huelva); Alejandro Romero Reche (Universidad de Granada), and José Rúas Araujo (Universidad de Vigo)—names are listed according to alphabetical order. Funding: IESA-CSIC, 5th Wave of the Citizen Panel for Social Research in Andalusia (http://www.iesa.csic.es/blog/?p=2435). ; This research was conducted as part of the 5th Wave of the Citizen Panel for Social Research in Andalusia, PIE 201710E018 [Panel Ciudadano PACIS, IESA-CSIC, www.panelpacis.net]. Our work is based on the administration of a survey to a representative sample of Andalusians. The sample was composed by 1,103 participants. The survey universe of this research was defined as all individual residents in Andalusia aged 18 or over. For the data collection, the sample was selected from among the individuals who are part of the PACIS panel.The objectives of this Executive Report are, specifically to identify if Andalusians have generic beliefs in conspiracies, to identify if Andalusians share and support specific beliefs about some conspiracies that have been divulged, with left, right and neutral orientations, and to find out the degree of extension of these beliefs in conspiracies in Andalusia, that is, how many people are estimated to believe in unfounded information. This executive report is part of the work developed within the framework of the research project: "Teorías de la conspiración y desinformación" [Conspiracy Theories and Disinformation], which won a competition to conduct a survey on this topic in the 5th Wave of the Citizen Panel for Social Research in Andalusia (EP-1707, PIE 201710E018, IESA/CSIC, www.panelpacis.net). Furthermore, this work falls under the COST Action (H2020) on "Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories" (COMPACT, 2016-2020), funded by the European Union's Framework Programme Horizon 2020. From this COST Action emerge the Project PiCOM, Political Ideology and Conspiracy Mentality", in which this report is framed.