From`spaces of place¿ to`spaces of flows¿? Territorial and functional governance in cross-border regions in Europe and North America

To what extent are we experiencing a transformation from ‘spaces of place’ to a ‘space of flows’ as proposed by Manuel Castells? Applying his thesis to the political system leads to the following implications. Socio‐economic processes of ‘glocalization’ are undermining the gate‐keeper position of national governments. Furthermore, governance is becoming ‘deterritorialized’, an aspect which is characterized by Elkins as an ‘unbundling’ of identities and jurisdictions. But does this process of unbundling lead to a federal system of multi‐level governance where the national level is complemented by supranational and subnational levels of governance; or does it imply an even more radical transformation towards an architecture of governance which is characterized by a proliferation of single‐purpose governments with variable and flexible spatial scales? A final implication is the transformation from ‘government to governance’— which means a broader array of actors and changing modes of interaction. This article traces these theses by analysing institutions of governance in four cross‐border regions in Europe and North America. In all regions we indeed find many cross‐border networks and institutions undermining the national gate‐keeper position. In Europe, cross‐border collaboration is producing another soft, but institutionalized, comprehensive, stable and territorially‐defined layer in the European ‘multi‐level‐system’. In North America, by contrast, only informal, fluid, specific and non‐territorial institutions are evolving across national borders. Here, the territorially‐based nation state is not complemented by similar kinds of political institutions, but is instead being challenged more fundamentally by new kinds of institutions: transnational socio‐economic exchange networks and transnational ideological coalitions which embody enormous transformational power. In conclusion, cross‐border regional governance in Europe still follows the logic of ‘spaces of place’, whereas in North America quite different ‘spaces of flows’ are emerging as complementary logics of community and institution building. Jusqu'ou s'exerce la transformation d'un ‘espace de lieux’ en ‘espace des flux’, comme le suggere Manuel Castells? L'application de cette theorie au systeme politique a plusieurs implications. Les processus socio‐economiques de ‘glocalisation’ desagregent la position de garde‐barriere des gouvernements nationaux. De plus, la gouvernance se ‘deterritorialise’, phenomene qu'Elkins appelle la ‘separation’ des identites et des domaines de competence. Mais a quel type de gouvernance cette ‘separation’ mene‐t‐elle: a un systeme federal a plusieurs niveaux ou le plan national est complete de plans supra‐ et infra‐nationaux de gouvernance? ou a un changement plus radical vers une architecture caracterisee par une proliferation de gouvernements a finalite unique dont les echelles spatiales varient et s'adaptent? Une derniere consequence est le passage de gouvernement a gouvernance, qui se traduit par une diversification des acteurs et de nouveaux modes d'interactions. L'article retrouve ces theses en analysant des institutions de gouvernance dans quatre regions transfrontalieres europeennes et nord‐americaines. Dans toutes les regions, l'etude identifie en effet de nombreux reseaux et institutions transfrontaliers qui minent la position de garde‐barriere nationale. En Europe, la collaboration transfrontaliere cree une strate souple, quoique institutionnalisee, etendue, stable et aux limites territoriales definies dans le ‘systeme europeen a plusieurs niveaux’. En Amerique du Nord, en revanche, n'interviennent a travers les frontieres que des institutions informelles, fluides, specifiques et non‐territoriales; l'Etat‐nation lie au territoire n'est pas complete d'institutions politiques de types similaires, etant plutot profondement mis en cause par des institutions d'un genre nouveau: reseaux d'echanges socio‐economiques et coalitions ideologiques transnationaux qui expriment une enorme dynamique de transformation. Pour conclure, la gouvernance regionale transfrontaliere en Europe obeit encore a la logique des ‘espaces de lieux’ tandis qu'en Amerique du Nord, des ‘espaces de flux’ tout a fait differents apparaissent dans une logique complementaire de construction de communautes et d'institutions.