This policy analysis examines geopolitical and sociocultural bordering practices in Europes cross-border regions and their impact on civil society participation and governance in state peripheries. The normative hope of democratisation and the legitimisation of European politics in European Union border regions are connected with a greater degree of cross-border citizen engagement in Euroregional institutions and politics. Using the example of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation, this study analyses and compares four cross-border Euroregional case studies: Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino, Galicia-North Portugal, SaarMoselle and the planned German-Polish TransOderana EGTC.