Modelling Cross-Border Integration: The Role of Borders as a Resource

Cross-border integration is a multifaceted as well as contextually contingent process. In order to make sense of the diversity of configurations observed, this article seeks to deconstruct the concept according to the role played by borders as resources and to develop a theoretical framework based on two contrasted models of cross-border integration. The first model, called 'geo-economic', is based on the mobilization of the border as a differential benefit and aims to generate value out of asymmetric cross-border interactions. Such a process of functional integration implies the perpetuation of the border as a source of revenue. The second model, called 'territorial project', emphasizes the border resources that involve a convergence of both sides of a border, either through a process of hybridization or via the symbolic recognition borders entail. In this process of cross-border place-making, trust between the actors and a sense of belonging to a common place are essential.