The article takes a look back at the emergence of the field of border studies at the beginning of the 21st century. A look back at the emergence of the field at the beginning of the 21st century. It insists on the need to build a common language and shared concepts, but without defending the idea of a single, unified theory. This text puts forward a programme to follow to delve deeper into the research themes in the field, a programme which places a great deal of importance on the analysis and understanding of individual accounts and to everyday experiences from the study field..
This article details a study conducted in an automotive company situated in close proximity to the French-German border in Moselle. The aim of the study was to uncover the role that borders play in the organisation and life of the company. The method adopted was intended to be multidisciplinary from the outset in view of the imbricated nature of the phenomena studied. The preliminary results focus on linguistic practices in the company and what they reveal about the company's relations with its local area and the effects of borders and the obstacles they create for the work and personal experiences of the employees.
A special feature of the greater region is in its shared labour market, which leads to strong cross-border mobility among employees. The goal of this study is characterising the information on the group of cross-border commuters. An econometrical model was chosen for this. This model shows that the cross-border commuters are, on average, younger than other employees. Gender and education also apparently plays a role. The model shows that cross-border commuters do not form any homogeneous group in terms of region of origin.
This article analyses the process of spatial integration in ten European cross-border metropolitan regions. To do so, the authors compare three indicators relating to flow of cross-border commuters, differentials in gross domestic product per capita and residents' citizenship. This article leads to a typology based on three models of cross-border integration being proposed: by specialization, by polarization and by osmosis.
The effects of the population mobility resulting from the unequal development of border regions can be perceived very differently by municipal councillors, urban planners or the local population. This article concentrates on the perceptions of the effects of population mobility and the property markets in a cross-border polycentric metropolitan region in Western Europe. A concomitant increase in property prices as well as severe housing shortages in Luxembourg has led to an expansion of the property market in the border regions. This research aims to analyse the different players' perceptions of the phenomenon by applying discourse analysis to it, thereby helping to generate increased awareness of the emerging transnational property market.
Mobility is an essential element of the economic and social development of the cross-border regions. Nevertheless, there are many obstacles in introduction of a transport system. This article analyses the case of the train connection between Liège (Belgium) and Maastricht (the Netherlands). A comparative analysis of six areas is conducted: the economic context; the urban and regional infrastructures in Belgium and the Netherlands; the structure of the railway network; the obstacles when using trains; the current demand for train connections and the context of governance, public and political planning. Suggestions are made based on the results of this analysis.
Through the figures provided, this report underscores the changes in employment seen over the last two decades and how factors such as age, gender, education, type of work pattern and nationality have played a role. It examines the economic life of persons out of the labour force aged between 50 and 64, whilst analysing in detail the withdrawal from the labour force of the over-50s over the last ten years.
The environmental powers of the state authorities and the local authorities respectively are determined, in this article, on the basis of a choice of the main treaties and international declarations. These texts are the result of bilateral or multilateral negotiations and constitute a compromise between the different positions of the States, the only subjects in international law. In this respect, States are more or less inclined to allow the local level to participate in the implementation of the international environmental instruments that they sign. The term "local" can be used to refer to all the relevant territorial levels situated below State level.
As for the notion of "national/state authority", it can be used to refer to central government or decentralised bodies. Finally, the term "local authority", a generic term defined by its opposition to the authorities of the sovereign State, is inspired by the practice of the Council of Europe's European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation and refers at once to territorial authorities of the French type, regional entities with legislative powers, federated entities and "local authorities" of the type found in English-speaking countries. Of course we also find that the traditional position of international law has survived, that is to say that state authorities have a monopoly on implementing the treaty as they see fit.
The contribution represents the entire pallet of bodies of cross-border cooperation that have developed along the borders of the French continent that borders eight adjacent states, and potentially their regional subdivisions. There are national bodies, i.e. associations (everywhere), bodies under French law ("sociétés d’économie mixte locale" [local mixed-economic companies] and European districts) and bodies under foreign law. Subsequently, supranational bodies are present (GÖZ, EVTZ, VEZ) that owe their success to legal harmonisation. However, other bodies that resulted from the early phase of cross-border cooperation (work groups) are receding.
These themed dossier looks at the question of local and regional labour markets, whether cross-border or not, through some multidisciplinary quantitative examples concerning the determinants, stakes and impacts of these particular forms of mobility, according to the different units of analysis and/or time periods.
In this way, different comparisons are made on different markets in order to understand how cross-border workers are different to non-cross-border workers (and even migrants) within the different geographical areas of the local and regional labour markets. With the aim of answering these different questions, four articles are selected to try and provide some answers.
