Harald Baldersheim, professor of political science at the University of Oslo. Krister Stahlberg, professor of public administration at the Abo Academy.

• 1. Transborder Region-Building: Cement or Solvent in Nordic Co-operation? Harald Baldersheim and Krister Ståhlberg. Part 1. Region-Building Across Nordic Borders. 2. Patterns in Nordic Cross-Border Region-Building – an Overview. Mårten Johansson. 3. The Kvarken Council. Paul Lindell. 4. The North Calotte Committee. Eva Johansson Aalbu. 5. The ARKO Co-operation. Kenneth Nyströ. 6. Danish-Swedish Co-operation in the Øresund Region. Bjarne Andersen. 7. The Baltic Sea Co-operation – Visions and Realities. Jan Åke Dellenbrant. 8. The Barents Region. Lassi Heininen. 9. The North Sea Commission. Norman O’Neill and Eirik Sæter. Part 2. European Integration and Local Government. 10. The Internationalisation of Finnish and Norwegian Local Government. Harald Baldersheim and Krister Ståhlberg. 11. European Integration and Municipal Self-Government – the Case of Sweden. Sören Häggroth. Part 3. Conclusions. 12. The Dynamics of Cross-Border Region-Building and Nordic Co-operation. Harald Baldersheim and Krister Ståhlberg.

’...the themes alluded to in the title of this volume are of substantial academic and practical interest.’ European Urban and Regional Studies ’...the editors manage to bridge the gap between the scientific and the real world...In my opinion, anyone interested in cross-border region-building can benefit from this publication. Learning from these cases is easy and can help us find the right direction for the future.’ Journal of Economic and Social Geography ’...this book is well worth reading...a book able to give structured ideas of the cement, the actors and processes on the local and regional level doing their important share in the build-up of functional multinational entities in the North, is highly welcome.’ European Review