The obstacles to European Union regional policy in the Northern Ireland borderlands

The Europeanization of European Union (EU) member states seeks their econom ic and political integration, if not eventual federal union, within a commo n market. EU programs and policies have done much to inject capital into No rthern Ireland, but little to weaken the hold of nation and state in local political culture. In fact, in the borderlands of Northern Ireland the boun daries between nations and states are more important than any metaphorical "Europe without frontiers." This essay examines a European policy program, INTERREG, which has enjoyed only partial success at the Northern Ireland bo rder, in order to delineate some of the obstacles to the cross-border coope ration which is its goal. It also relates these obstacles to flaws in natio nal and European policy making and implementation to inform wider research both in the anthropology of the EU and in the anthropology of international borders.