Cross-Border Policy Networks in the Trinational Region of Basel

Abstract

This paper provides evidence of how national and linguistic borders affect the structure of policy networks. Our analysis of the Basel metropolitan region located across Switzerland, France and Germany considers the case of cross-border public transportation. Using a social network approach based on 44 actors, we show that national borders play a diminishing role in the formation of policy networks for both information exchange and decision making but still limit interactions between German and French-speaking actors. Local actors develop different brokerage roles according to their country of origin, with Swiss actors acting as coordinator and representative brokers vis-à-vis players located in France and Germany.

Keywords: policy networks, cross-border metropolitan region, transport policies, social network analysis, Basel, Switzerland, France, Germany

JEL Classification: F15, F16, J61, R42, R50, R58