David Mitrany’s Functionalist Theory: a tool in examining how cross border cooperation can improve the international relations between the EU and its external border regions

Abstract

The research of Cross-Border-Cooperation (CBC) projects and project management is an immature field of research in the field of international relations. This thesis contributes to making project management and CBC projects a field of research in the analysis of international relations among nation states.

The thesis outlines David Mitrany’s Functionalist theory in a framework that allows for three case studies focusing on the development of CBC projects, between Finland and the Russian Federation, to be examined for areas of improvement. The thesis argues that improvements in project management practices and CBC financing programmes will lead to improvements in CBC project development that in turn leads to the improvement of international relations among the cooperating nations at the EU’s external border.