Development of cross-border cooperation and creating of Euroregions in the Slovak Republic
The position of border regions is one of the most significant limiting elements of their development. This development is substantially conditioned by their embodying in a wider geographic framework and by creating interactions with the surrounding territorial units. The State border represents an important phenomenon that acts in space as a bigger or lesser barrier and its permeability influences the socio-economic development of the borderland to a considerable degree. The function of the border underwent relatively dynamic changes in history. Since the second half of the 20th century, the influence of the border has gradually been diminishing in western Europe. As a result, border regions can develop in all directions of geographic space, while within centralised political systems - on the contrary - these regions have a limited possibility for development only inland (i.e. towards centres of the respective country). This often makes from the borderland a socially and economically marginalised area.