Economic, political, and cultural integration in an inner European union border region: The Danish‐German border region

Western European integration in the post-World War II era stems from interdependent economic, political, and cultural life pressures. Some, though certainly not all, such forces for integration are particularly strong in regions that lie close to neighboring countries. In other cases, border regions and border region issues may hamper integration. This is due to the role of these regions as national(istic) icons or due to their special economic, demographic, or ethnic circumstances. Research on integration, both in general and in border regions, involves several disciplines and areas of study. In this article, the focus is on the Danish-German border region and a selection of important economic, political, and cultural topics.