THE ROLE OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND THE SISTER CITY MOVEMENT IN THE FORMATION OF TRANSBORDER REGIONS (on the example of external relations of Petrozavodsk city, Republic of Karelia)
Based on the constructivist theory, we put forward and test the hypothesis that local communities and urban elites have direct impact on transborder cooperation of regions. Petrozavodsk City (Republic of Karelia) and its sister cities from Northern Europe (Umeå (Sweden), Mo-i-Rana (Norway), Varkaus and Joensuu (Finland)) are chosen as examples. To prove the hypothesis, an analysis of the formation and development of the contacts between these cities is made.