Call for articles on ‘Stories from the Euroregion’

(the Call is now closed)

Publication: ‘EUREGIO’ magazine

1st deadline: 9 June 2008
2nd deadline: 31 July 2008

The debate about cross-border cooperation in Europe and the institution of ‘Euroregions’ has often focused on structures with bureaucratic jargon as its rhetorical counterpart. Often the debate both in the media and within academia has concentrated on theoretical issues concerning (already recognised or new) cross-border identities or an undemonstrated set of broad benefits for the communities involved. The aim of the magazine ‘EUREGIO’ is to fill what we perceive as a gap in the recounting of personal experiences of cross-border initiatives; in particular, those supported by certain institutions across the whole of Europe (such as the EU, the Nation-States or certain local authorities and organisations). We are particularly interested in those occurring in areas with long-standing stable cross-border cooperation.

The principal aim of the magazine is to attempt to answer the questions:

‘How can European cooperation (and Euroregions in particular) be helpful to the citizens of Europe? And, on the other hand, what are the limits of these social and institutional processes? ”

While it is clear that individual contributors might interpret ‘helpfulness’ in different ways, we are particularly interested in:
– stories highlighting economic development that is compatible with the environment
– behaviour that can be considered as evidence of reversing the trend in historical ethnic conflict within border areas
– trends where ‘traditional’ regional cultural practices are re-interpreted or re-valued
– the evidence of experiences where cross-border cooperation has been beneficial to the integration of new migrants
– experiences regarding successful multi-cultural media in cross-border areas.

We are also interested in articles that point out the limitations of attempts to create new supranational institutions outside the traditional framework of the Nation-State (cf. Langer 2007). For example, Hakli has noted how the modernist ‘spatial congruence between cultural identity, economic activity, and political process’ is not threatened by the creation of Euroregions. These new institutions involve territories that would not seem to oppose or challenge the paradigm of the ‘network society’. In addition, we might consider the role of the media in the building of Nation-States and how such cross-border initiatives are successful or unsuccessful in challenging national cultural constructions.

‘EUREGIO’ welcomes contributions from journalists and a broad spectrum of researchers, from the social sciences in particular. However, the objective of the editorial board is to include articles that can also be read by non-specialists and non-academics. Therefore, the rhetorical approach should be that of a story focusing on a small group of people and their experiences – as in Benjamin (1968) who states that ‘[e]xperience which is passed on from mouth to mouth is the source from which all storytellers have drawn’. Creative and exciting contributions based on personal experiences will be particularly appreciated by the editors.
The authors must bear in mind that the aim of this magazine is to provide a clear understanding of the strengths and limitations of EU-funded cooperation and the institutions of Euroregions to non-academic readers, such as policy-makers, journalists, professionals and workers.

SUBMITTING YOUR ARTICLE AND DEADLINES

We are working on two forthcoming issues.
The first will be published during the summer and the deadline for submitting your article for this issue is 9 June 2008.
The second issue will be published in October and the deadline for this issue is 31 July 2008.
Every submission will be reviewed by the Editorial Committee of ‘EUREGIO’. All articles must include the full name of the author, his/her qualifications, any institutional affiliation, telephone number, full mail and e-mail addresses.
Submitting your article means that you own all the rights for portraying those people in their own context. It also means that you have read and understood the guidelines of this request for articles and intend to follow them.
You might want to discuss the contents of your article before sending it: if so, please contact us freely.
The article must be sent to the following e-mail address:
em.milic@gmail.com

LENGHT OF ARTICLES

Articles should not exceed 1,500 words.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Every article should be accompanied (via e-mail or other means) by at least five photographs of the persons and, possibly, the places and objects that form the subject of your story. Photographs should be well focused and taken with at least a 5-megapixel resolution camera. We particularly welcome digital photographs taken by non-professional photographers.

PAYMENT

Every article, including the photographs, is paid 300 €. This net amount will be transferred to the author according to an agreed form of payment (bank transfer or other).

DISTRIBUTION OF THE MAGAZINE

‘EUREGIO’ will be printed in 15,000 copies: 9,000 in the Italian-English version; 3,000 in the Slovene-English version and 3,000 in the German-English version. The copies will be distributed mostly through bookshops and libraries of Carinthia (Austria), Friuli – Venezia Giulia (Italy) and Slovenia. A few copies will be sent to academic institutions, researchers and students who express a desire to receive them.

PROBLEMS AND ISSUES

Should the potential author encounter difficulties in fulfilling the requirements of these guidelines, please contact the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine, Enrico Maria Milic: em.milic@gmail.com

PUBLISHER: ABOUT THE MAGAZINE ‘EUREGIO’

The magazine is published by the Italian region of Friuli – Venezia Giulia through the agency Informest-Isdee in partnership with the University of Koper (Slovenia). The magazine has been conceived in order to promote the creation of a new cross-border institution – the ‘Euroregion’ – in the Northern Adriatic area and is co-financed by EU funds related to the programme INTERREG IIIA Italy – Slovenia 2000-2006. The original political project regarding this Euroregion – which we support – sees as its founders the following regions and nation states: Carinthia, Friuli – Venezia Giulia, Istria, Primorsko-Goranska region, Veneto and Slovenia. It has been proposed that EU Regulation 1082/2006 governing ‘European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation’ be used as the legal framework for the creation of this Euroregion.

Lascia un commento

Il tuo indirizzo email non sarà pubblicato. I campi obbligatori sono contrassegnati *