This book examines the histories, the inequalities, as well as the “Othering” that persists in many borderlands. The author declares that her “normative intent is to move toward greater binational equalities in interdependent states with emphasis on wages and GDPs, but with the latter discounted for environmental damage, and the long-term security threat whether we live in borderlands or the mainstream” (p. 236 f.). By proposing film suggestions, weblinks to maps and other visual graphics, a comprehensive and interdisciplinary bibliography in every chapter, as well as short notes on research, observations, and case studies, this book offers a broad perspective on borders and borderlands.
The EUBORDERSCAPES project analyzed the conceptual changes in the study of borders that have taken place in the past decades. The project focused on the social significance and subjectivities of state borders. “Objective” categories of state territoriality were critically interrogating. Parallel to the study of conceptual change, the main research question was “how [do] different and often contested conceptualisations of state borders (in terms of their political, social, cultural and symbolic significance) resonate in concrete contexts at the level of everyday life”.
The focus of this text is the boundaries between disciplines, subjects, specialized fields of knowledge as well as epistemic and knowledge cultures. The author addresses differences in cross-border and integrative research with the term boundary work. Different methods of boundary work, such as exploring professional profiles and identities; conceptual work and boundary work with variables, indicators and thresholds, are presented.
Saarland sees itself as a bridge between Germany and France. Due to historical developments, there is already a great deal of expertise on France, which is to be expanded further.
The France Strategy is designed as a comprehensive and civil society project. In close cooperation with Lorraine, it pursues an internal strategy (strengthening French competence within the country) and an external and communication strategy (marketing Saarland’s French competence externally, i.e. to France and Germany). Even if French competence is the focal point, the France Strategy is essentially a multilingual strategy.
The France Strategy has so far been complemented by two “Feuille de route” (roadmaps), which list milestones.
Saarland’s France Strategy will be discussed in the light of different professional contexts and with the consideration of large regional, national, European and global processes. The contributions are based on a public lecture series in which cross-border realities of life, measures, cooperation and multilingualism in the border region were discussed. The German-French cooperation and the importance of the France Strategy in various fields of action will be discussed, as well as the existing opportunities and challenges, but also possible contributions from academics and society to use the potentials of the border region will be examined from different scientific perspectives.
Borders introduce a division into the world. According to the author, this definition has four consequences for a theory of the border: (1) the border is in between, (2) the border is in motion, (3) the border is a process of circulation, (4) the border is not reducible to space. Based on these four consequences he outlines a methodology, or a « critical limology » as he phrases it.
In the light of the Schengen Agreement border checks at the EU internal borders have largely been abolished. Thirty years after the signature of this agreement, Europe faces “refugee crisis” (EC 2016). After recent events such as the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, some countries decided to re-establish border controls. What are the impacts of the reintroduction of these border controls from a spatial perspective? To answer this question, the authors propose a synthetic literature review on conceptual tools for analyzing the reintroduction of border controls and link these with a set of empirical findings. The focus is on the Greater Region, a cross-border region where functional flows are important.
The first part (part I) is devoted to conceptual aspects of border studies. Geopolitics are elaborated in part II. In part III, border enforcement in the 21st century is studied. Part IV is dedicated to the mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion implied by border tracing. The following section (part V) is devoted to the role of borders in everyday lives. The borderless world hypothesis is questioned. The next two parts entitled Crossing Borders (VI) and Creating Neighbourhoods (VII), are dedicated to borderlands and cross-border processes. In the final part (VIII) the interactions with nature and environment at the border are treated.
In order to analyze the importance of national borders for spatial identities in border regions, a multidimensional analysis model will be developed. Using the example of the SaarLorLux Greater Region, both the representation of space and the organization of the everyday practices of the residents of the region as well as the spatial projections in political discourses are examined. It becomes clear that, despite cross-border interdependencies, national borders play an important role in the residents’ processes of identification with and identification by/of. However, they are not regarded as rigid categories.
