Chiara Brambilla considers globalised capitalism as a fundamentally geographical project, insofar as it is based on the relation between State, territory and capital, which are themselves closely connected to geographical concepts such as borders and landscapes. The resulting unevenly developed landscape constitutes the basis of modern capitalism. For Chiara Brambilla, it is necessary to offer new concepts for rather classical and static key geographical concepts such as “landscapes” and “borders” in order to produce an alternative (geo)political vision of capitalism. This is how she came up with the borderscape concept, which refers to the processual character of border landscapes, and uses it by drawing on Mezzadra and Neilson (2013) in order to produce a geographical opposition to capitalism.
Since the spatial turn, space has most often been conceived from a relational standpoint, and the border concept has been abandoned as it did not seem compatible with this relation-oriented perspective on space. However, borders still often play an important role for the empirical studies of spaces. Therefore, the authors conceptualise borders in a manner likely to be integrated to a relation-based spatial theory. They conceive the border itself as a link between at least two spaces which it brings together. While it is true that specific differentiations are significant to the construction of spaces, borders can bring a spatial dimension to this difference and create territorial spatial constitutions. The authors demonstrate this mechanism using the empirical example of border constructions on the Balkan route during the migration movements of 2015.
How far are the border areas in fringe areas? This chapter emphasises the relativity of the fringe location of the borders depending on the considered spatial and temporal standards. The ambiguous relationship between fringe and border is initially discussed by various emblematic cases in France and Europe. The standard must therefore be changed in order to look at the type of fringe location, which is then reflected by a multi-scale approach of the border regions, between the EU as a whole and the cross-border regions in North-Eastern France. These elements permit a definition of the fringe area in conclusion.
The book essentially questions the way spaces can be described and empirically studied within or as cross-border relations. To do this, the author focuses on border dwellers in the Greater Region of SaarLorLux, insofar as its circular mobility structure and its presence in multiple neighbouring areas may be considered exemplary for cross-border life realities. The book hypothesises that spaces, rather than being pre-existing, allow for the development of subjectively significant spatial relations through cross-border activities. The concept of space therefore describes the significant social relations developed through border dweller practices, which are partially operationalised and studied empirically through socio-cultural questions.
The University of San Diego's Trans-Border Institute (TBI) promotes lasting peace in Mexico and in the border region, through applied research, innovative educational practices and cross-border partnerships. For twenty years, the TBI has been a source of information on cross-border issues and the relations between Mexico and the United States. The TBI publishes data from surveys and reports on police reforms, arms trafficking and the application of the immigration laws.
The Centre for Border Region Studies in the University of Southern Denmark, in Sønderborg (founded in 2016, based on a research tradition dating back to 1976), links the Faculty of Human Sciences and the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences for interdisciplinary and comparative research work using qualitative methods. Specifically, the disciplines represented for research in the field of European cross-border regions are anthropology, geography, history and political sciences.
The research themes are structured using four fields as indicated by the Centre for Border Region Studies:
The role and developing functions of borders and cross-border regions
Current cross-border European regions: conflicts and cooperation
The role of (cross-border) regions and of the European Union
One cannot consider the border, the primary focus of border studies, as a mere limit or link; it should be considered more in depth and analysed in the light of its ontological multidimensionality. To do this, Christophe Sohn uses the assemblage concept inspired by Deleuze and Guattari (1987) and applies it to the border, which allows one to understand its multiple and changing character, its varied meanings as well as the practices and power relationships pertaining to borders.
Universities in the European border regions are facing special challenges due to their geographic location. These challenges may also be viewed as opportunities. Political representatives from the border regions confirm their willingness to engage in stronger European integration in the areas of education and research. In fact, the spatial proximity facilitates international research cooperation, student exchange in general and creation of special coordinated bi- and trinational study programs. The site also leads to special research topics in subjects such as economics, law, literature and cultural sciences. These can be processed by scientists on either side of the border. The quality of personal contact turns out to be supporting pillar for innovative border-crossing programs in all areas..
In this book, geopolitical experts from different countries provide important information on border landscapes thereby enabling us to get a deeper understanding of certain aspects of cultural landscapes. The political border represents a spatial limit to the political organisation of territories. But the way in which these borders are used and perceived can have an effect on the landscape.
The temptation to abolish borders corresponds to a desire to kill off a myth, but it neglects the fact that the border, with its four functions of translation, regulation, differentiation and relationship, is a living notion in society. The rediscovery by Brazil of its land borders, like the problems that are arising on this question in the States of what used to be Eastern Europe, show that the relationship function can only be exercised in an active, stable and non-conflictual way if the other functions are fulfilled. A border is the measure of pluralism against the dangers of chaos; it serves as much to "express" order as it does disorder.
