bordering

This paper engages with the established use of the concept of bordering in Border Studies and argues that it is often characterised by an insufficient explicit articulation of the underlying processual understandings of borders. Against this background, the paper proposes a heuristic that distinguishes between two ideal-typical approaches to bordering processes: an outward-oriented bordering inspection, which examines the effects of presupposed borders, and an inward-oriented bordering introspection, which reconstructs the border itself as the fabric of social and cultural processes of dis/ordering. This distinction seeks to more precisely situate different epistemic interests, objects of inquiry and methodological approaches within Border Studies and to relate them to one another. Drawing on examples, the paper demonstrates how both perspectives can be combined productively. It conceptualises the plurality of bordering not as a deficit but as an epistemic opportunity, the use of which, however, requires an explicit articulation of the underlying processual understandings of borders.

Schengen countries are increasingly relying on the Schengen Borders Code to make internal borders less permeable. This Working Paper focuses on the ongoing reintroduction of temporary internal border controls within the EU between 2015 and 2024, as well as the justifications provided by Schengen countries for these measures. The analysis identifies four phases, reflecting a gradual displacement of the Schengen spirit—established 40 years ago—by a prevailing border spirit. While open borders and free movement remain guiding principles of the European Union, national border regimes are gaining ground and are continuously being adapted to fluctuating threat perceptions. Migration, terrorism, public health, and hybrid threats serve as discursive resources to legitimize a Schengen reality that can no longer be regarded as exceptional, but rather as part of a normalized, security-oriented European order. This trajectory is characterized by a re-nationalization of border policy within the EU, an ever-expanding rhetoric of crisis, political instrumentalization, and an ambivalent mode of EU border governance.

In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, borders have become relevant (again) in political action and in people's everyday lives within a very short time. This was especially true for the inhabitants of border regions, whose cross-border life worlds were suddenly irritated by closed borders and police controls. However, the COVID-19 pandemic also led to an increased evidence of social, cultural, economic, health and mobility boundaries beyond national borders, which raised pressing questions about social inequalities. The authors shed light on these dynamics from the perspective of territorial borders, social boundaries and (dis)continuities in border regions through a variety of thematic and spatial approaches. The critical observations and scientific comments were made during the lockdown in April and May 2020 and provide insights into the events during the global pandemic.