Viadrina Center B/ORDERS IN MOTION

The Viadrina Center B/ORDERS IN MOTION is a research institution based at the European University of Viadrina (D). This university was founded in 1991 next to the German-Polish border in Frankfurt (Oder). The main goal of the university is to focus its teaching and research on social, cultural, economic and political borders in Europe, particularly in the Central and Eastern European context.

Currently research of the Viadrina Center B/ORDERS IN MOTION addresses border regimes in temporal, social and spatial terms with regard to:

• the dynamics of the processes of shifting and demarcating borders,
• the permeability of borders, and
• the creation of border zones.

The wordplay “B/ORDERS” is supposed to ask how orders and borders are interrelated. The question here is: How do multifarious practices, which subvert or erect borders, contribute to the stabilization or transformation of political regulatory, cultural, economic and social systems? The designation “...IN MOTION” refers to movement of borders. The assumption here is that certain borders dissolve and/or become obsolete, while other borders are continually being redrawn in multiple complex processes. Border phenomena therefore must be analyzed in terms of their processuality. Empirical research is performed in combination with work on a theory of the border. An orientation towards practical applications and normative reflections is adopted.

Information on past and current research projects such as the research group “Border & Boundary Studies“ or the project “Tough Choices: Dilemmas and Decisions in Peacemaking” can be found on the website. A working paper series entitled “B/ORDERS IN MOTION” is edited by members of the research institution. The first issue entitled “Borders in Motion: Durabilität, Permeabilität, Liminalität” (in German) is dedicated to the understandings of borders as an interdisciplinary subject matter. Furthermore a border research library as well as a digital scientific platform “B/ORDER STUDIES” are provided. This platform provides services, modules and tools to process the multifarious data, publications and studies of the researchers collaborating within the institution.