Crossing borders: Een kader voor het tot ontwikkeling brengen van grensoverschrijdende samenwerking in watermanagement

Cross-border cooperation as referred to in this research may have different underlying motives. Depending on the motive, there usually is an organisation or a person who feels responsible, or is made responsible for the development of the cooperation. In pursuance of the terminology and current practices, we will use the term pioneer as a kind of collective term for persons involved in the development of cooperative partnerships between organisations and thereby driving, to a greater or lesser extent, the direction of this development. In answering the research questions we will be using a theoretical framework. This framework is presented as a theory of action for creating and managing cross-border regional cooperation and is intended to be used by pioneers of cross-border regional cooperative partnerships. This Crossing Borders Theory is not a conventional theory connecting cause and consequence, nor does it posses predictive qualities! As mentioned before, the theory developed is intended as support for pioneers in the area of cross-border regional water management in their efforts to establish and manage cross-border cooperative partnerships. It is common practice to use decision-support systems when dealing with control aspects of water management. It gradually becomes clear, that due to the complex and dynamic character of water management processes, and cross-border processes in particular, an additional theory of action is needed. Theory of action aimed at cooperative aspects of cross-border water management. Not an 'army manual' kind of theory, in terms of 'if this, do that...', but a flexible theory of action offering pioneers significant points of attention and options for each stage of cooperation. This is the purpose of the developed theory. The result is a system which is supportive of managing (and performing in the case of pioneers) complex and long term processes. An English version of the complete Crossing Borders Theory can be downloaded from www.crossingbordersacademy.org.