Region-building, boundaries and identity in a globalizing world
(Finnish Academy 2008-2012)

This project will study the current roles of regions, borders and identity, categories that have become crucial round the world, (particularly in the EU) as part of the re-scaling of state spaces. The project consists of theoretical-conceptual work and empirical case studies that are contextual but also aim at revealing in a comparative international framework (Finland, UK) general aspects of complex region-building processes, boundary producing practices, operation of regional institutions across spatial scales/borders, and the roles of regions as sources of identities. There categories are often taken for granted in research and their theoretical and empirical role is unclear. This project will study how regions are constructed in new multi-scalar constellations of power where regions are not passive backgrounds of social relations but dynamic manifestations of local, state and supra-state processes, institutional practices and discourses. This is important in Europe where competing regional frames increasingly shape the regional worlds of the EU citizens. Through the implementation of structural and cohesion policies much hope is loaded on ‘regional identity’. This project aims to find solutions to the existing theoretical and empirical gaps.