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The study is framed by EU renewable energy policy mobility and evaluates six German state-designated Bioenergy Regions and their role in policy performance processes. Based on in-depth interviews with Bioenergy Region personnel it displays aspects that shape the rationalities of actors and (re)produces policy translation and implementation. The cases are framed by a concept of translation loops and display the regions as relational assemblages that shape processes of policy mutation and influence the performance of policy aims. The paper shows how translation processes based on the socio-spatial relations of the involved entities affect initial policy aims and their implementations, particularly in regard to the prioritisation of economic aspects over sustainability. It further stresses the problem of insular approaches in bioenergy development that hinder joint approaches and problematises the questionable consequences of rationalist-linear based best-practice examples utilised in policy adjustment processes.

The blue bioeconomy is gaining momentum in EU policy debate and various national government strategies as a pathway towards a more sustainable society. Linked to the circularity of economic processes, it combines the promise of (regional) economic development with a sustainable, bio-based transition focused on increased and novel utilisation of aquatic resources. Nonetheless, portrayed as a holistic approach, the political visions of blue bioeconomy reside predominantly in marine environments with little integration of freshwater perspectives or alternative development paths. Rooted in concepts of policy mobility, assembling processes and the positionalities of involved entities, this paper displays two regionally embedded blue bioeconomy developments – Norwegian coastal seaweed farming and Finnish lake fisheries – and their spatially diverse reconnections with national and international policy narratives. By framing a freshwater and a coastal marine case, and their spatial reconnections with an overarching yet diversely translated policy realm, the paper taps into the multiple ontologies of water in blue bioeconomy governance and presents initial empirical and methodological steps towards a relational understanding of its governance processes. Based on four key topical reconnections, the article points to a variety of challenging mismatches between policy narratives, local development processes and potentials. It also suggests conceptual and methodological implications of this approach for further research into "blue" resource governance.

Recognition of the negative impacts of climate change has led to agreement on the need to decarbonise energy systems through the employment of renewable energy. With many national and transnational policies in place, the options available to insular energy systems (IES) differ from those of interconnected areas due to fragility in their production and distribution networks. Based on the concepts of policy mobility and translation, this study examines the interplay of EU renewable energy policy and insular governance processes aimed at achieving energy autonomy through renewable energy development. Reunion Island, a French Overseas Department and Region, is used as a case study to examine local energy governance processes, aspects that shape regional translation of national and EU policy, and the potential effects that create structures and pathways of energy transition. The study shows that Reunion Island's regional Energy Governance Committee has significant application potential as a governance tool in other IES and small islands within the EU, but that renewable energy development is restricted due to national policy measures and path dependent governance structural constraints. Popular article based on the paper, with commentaries, is published in Versus Research Dabate.

Freizügigkeit als eine der zentralen Errungenschaften der Europäischen Union (EU) ist mittlerweile an vielen internen Grenzen der EU Realität. An der deutsch-polnischen Grenze wurden die permanenten Grenzkontrollen nach dem Schengen Beitritt Polens im Dezember 2007 eingestellt. Während dieser Prozess in der Öffentlichkeit oft als Wegbereiter für die Auflösung der internen EU Grenzen zelebriert wird, beschäftigt sich diese Studie speziell mit den differenzierten Ansichten aktiver Kooperationsakteure für eine grenzüberschreitende langfristige sozio-kulturelle Zusammenarbeit der beiden Grenzstädte Słubice (PL) und Frankfurt (Oder) (D). In dem vorliegenden Aufsatz wird ein fragmentiertes Bild der heutigen Kooperationslandschaft präsentiert. Der Fokus auf Kooperation, persönliche Kontakte und Barrieren zeigt auf, warum der "Entgrenzungsansatz", welcher mit der Freizügigkeit verbunden war, nicht den erhofften Anstieg der dauerhaften, grenzübergreifenden Aktivitäten mit sich gebracht hat. Dabei spielen neben sozialen Barrieren wie Sprache, kulturelle Unterschiede, tiefgehende Vorurteile und institutionelle Unstimmigkeiten auch ökonomische Aspekte eine Rolle. Die Konsequenzen der "Entgrenzung" durch die Freizügigkeit werden von den Akteuren in Słubice und Frankfurt (Oder) äußerst unterschiedlich betrachtet. Während bei der deutsch-polnischen Zusammenarbeit eine allgemein positive Entwicklung zu erkennen ist, werfen die Ergebnisse dieser Studie wichtige Aspekte sowie kontroverse Ansichten in Bezug auf die Entwicklung der langfristigen Kooperation auf, welche in zukünftigen Ansätzen und Projekten für grenzübergreifende Arbeit berücksichtigt werden sollten.

Regional bioeconomies promote sustainable, regional economies under the auspices of EU green growth policies. Combining prospects of rural rejuvenation, sustainability and innovation, they are employed to address climate change, societal challenges, and often benefit from substantial public funds. Yet, despite public finance's key role for bio-based transitions and (regional) bioeconomies, it has received little academic attention. Framed by conceptualisations on greening finance and (sustainable) policy narratives, this paper evaluates the public finance processes of three spatially variegated regional bioeconomy developments in Europe (Finland, Sweden, Spain). It provides empirical accounts from the case study sites and contrasts their public finance narratives with sustainable bioeconomy policy trajectories employed in EU policy promotion and benchmarking. This critical questioning of the current representations of regional bioeconomies in public finance narratives portrays a problematic mismatch between the dominant selective economic features and wider EU policy aims, particularly in relation to sustainability. Accompanied by the neglect of decisive local features in these benchmarking narratives, they promote a sustainably and spatially unreflective path forward for bioeconomy policy learning and development. ; Funding: Academy for Smart Specialization; Karlstad University; Region Varmland [RV 2014-613, RV 2018-467, RV 2016-294]

Regional bioeconomies promote sustainable, regional economies under the auspices of EU green growth policies. Combining prospects of rural rejuvenation, sustainability and innovation, they are employed to address climate change, societal challenges, and often benefit from substantial public funds. Yet, despite public finance's key role for bio-based transitions and (regional) bioeconomies, it has received little academic attention. Framed by conceptualisations on greening finance and (sustainable) policy narratives, this paper evaluates the public finance processes of three spatially variegated regional bioeconomy developments in Europe (Finland, Sweden, Spain). It provides empirical accounts from the case study sites and contrasts their public finance narratives with sustainable bioeconomy policy trajectories employed in EU policy promotion and benchmarking. This critical questioning of the current representations of regional bioeconomies in public finance narratives portrays a problematic mismatch between the dominant selective economic features and wider EU policy aims, particularly in relation to sustainability. Accompanied by the neglect of decisive local features in these benchmarking narratives, they promote a sustainably and spatially unreflective path forward for bioeconomy policy learning and development.

The European Union's Water Framework Directive introduced a new approach to the system of water management in Europe by nominating the river basin district as the basic unit in water management. While its transboundary character aims to better manage natural resources, its design and implementation carries several challenges due to its weak integration of various bordering effects related to administrative boundaries that strongly affect the directives' implementation. Based on a comparative document based case study of two river basin districts – the International Oder River Basin District (IORBD) and the International Torne River Basin District (ITRBD) – the paper scrutinizes the effects on the implementation processes of the directive and aims to draw attention to identify the differences that derive from various socio-spatial settings during the first cycles of water management plans from 2009 to 2015. By thematically comparing biophysical characteristics, cross-border cooperation, cultural and administrative borderingprocesses the study displays a mismatch between the directives aims for transboundary governance and the actual governance processes which are hampered by a variety of conflicting bordering processes.

Russia's waste management system and legislative framework have undergone an ambitious revision process to fix Russia's pending waste crisis and push waste management towards the levels of its Western neighbours. While the reforms aim to tackle Russia's insufficient waste management, the local implementation realities of these central policy strategies, particularly in rural areas, are largely neglected. Rural communities throughout Russia are to implement a waste policy system which is not only unsuitable in its current form, but wherein local realities are in stark contrast to their representations in the realms of policy design. Obliged to implement nonetheless, these mismatches seem destined in building up a ruin to come of a waste management system that will be dysfunctional and locally contested, particularly in relation to its environmental impact. To scrutinise these developments, the paper is framed by a conceptualisation of policy mobility and translation, with an in-depth focus on localised assembling processes that implement Russian waste legislation in three local communities in the Karelian Republic. It analyses rural waste management in Russia through the Regional Waste Management Programme of the Karelian Republic and their processes of implementation. Based on qualitative analysis, the core focus is on local perceptions, waste management infrastructure and local spatial components that highlight the incompatibility between the current institutionalised planning documents and visions of waste policy in Russia and the geographical realities in the places of materialisation. Popular article based on the paper, with commentaries, is published in Versus Research Debate in English and Russian.