English

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led not only to the shift of real and mental borders in Europe but has also driven profound changes of geopolitical visions of the contemporary world and its economic, political, and social future. In which ways is Russia’s war in Ukraine related to issues of borders and identity? This interview addresses the many geopolitical, social, and existential questions about borders and identity in the current war, also analyzing the role that academia plays in this war. Border scholars Astrid M. Fellner and Eva Nossem have talked to three Ukrainian researchers: Julia Buyskykh, Alina Mozolevska, and Oleksandr Pronkevich, who share their views on the entanglements of borders, identity, and the war, as they try to make sense of the new realities.

In the 21st century, cooperative cross-border projects in many peripheral areas of EU member states have steadily gained in importance; but, as the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated, they can by no means be taken for granted. Borderland cooperation involves many actors, and complex as well as varied background conditions. Funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (project key 01UC2104), the network project ‘Linking Borderlands: Dynamics of Cross-Border Peripheries’ undertakes a comparative analysis of two borderland regions, one in south-western, one in eastern Germany: the so-called Greater Region on the borders of Belgium, France, Germany, and Luxembourg, and the Brandenburg-Lubuskie Region straddling the German-Polish border. The Working Paper outlines the background to EU borderland cooperation and sketches some central lines of development taken by border studies, before presenting its five constituent perspectives.

While the materialities and functionalities of borders have changed drastically in recent decades, the ordering principle of the border persists. At the same time, the selective character of borders is emerging with a clarity that has hardly been seen in Europe before. This is the point of departure for the issue papers, which discuss the observation that borders do not have the same significance for all people. For this purpose, the authors work with the concept of multivalence, which assumes that borders have social valences or relevances that differ regarding certain groups of people. The thematic issue with case studies of governance, flight, reporting, film, and literature shows multiple valences of borders, which stand for inequalities and refer to powerful cultural orders.

Up until May 2021, the post-election insecurity in Belarus had mostly been a national affair, but with Lukashenka’s regime starting to retaliate against foreign actors, the crisis internationalised. This article follows the development of Belarus-Lithuania border dynamics between the 2020 Belarusian presidential election and the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. A qualitative content analysis of English-language articles published by Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT shows that shows that there were relatively few changes to the border dynamics in the period between 9 August 2020 and 26 May 2021. After 26 May 2021, the border dynamics changed significantly: The Belarusian regime started facilitating migration, and more than 4,200 irregular migrants crossed into Lithuania from Belarus in 2021. In response, Lithuania reinforced its border protection and tried to deal with the irregular migration flows. Calls for action were made, protests were held, and the country received international support.

The paper aims to recognize the changes in the barriers to cross-border educational projects, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research focused on the European borderlands, where the level of maturity of cross-border cooperation is diverse (the Franco-German and Polish-Czech borderlands). The author utilised qualitative research methods (desk research, in-depth interview, case study). An exploratory study covered the barriers existing before the pandemic that stayed stable or have changed during the pandemic, and the new types of barriers that have appeared then. Within both borderlands, the identified barriers were similar in general; however, their intensity was varied. The key difference was the approach to these barriers within each borderland. On the Franco-German border, cross-border cooperation is more complex and deeper, and on the Polish-Czech border, it is more superficial and focused on specific issues only. These differences reveal the solutions that should be implemented to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on those projects within each borderland.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the related border restrictions have had numerous social, economic and political consequences for border regions. The temporary border closures impacted not only the lives of borderlanders whose everyday practices are embedded in cross-border spaces, but also the functioning of institutional actors involved in cross-border activities. The aim here is to investigate the communication surrounding the pandemic and the reactions and (new) strategies of cross-border institutional actors in the context of (re)bordering. Applying the concept of resilience, this paper explores coping mechanisms and modes of adaptation as well as strategies developed to adjust to new circumstances. Against this backdrop, factors that enhanced or hindered the adaptation process were identified. The German-Polish borderland serves here as a case study, although it will be situated within a wider European context.

The policy paper 'Action Needs for Spatial Development in the Greater Region from a Research Perspective' summarises key findings of researchers from the UniGR-Center for Border Studies in five areas relevant to the Greater Region (demography and migration, transport, employment and economic development, energy land-scapes, cross-border governance) and formulates options for action for planning practice and political deci-sion-makers. In addition, it addresses the exchange of knowledge between research and politics.

In recent decades, Border Studies have gained importance and have seen a noticeable increase in development. This manifests itself in an increased institutionalization, a differentiation of the areas of research interest and a conceptual reorientation that is interested in examining processes. So far, however, little attention has been paid to questions about (inter)disciplinary self-perception and methodological foundations of Border Studies and the associated consequences for research activities. This thematic issue addresses these desiderata and brings together articles that deal with their (inter)disciplinary foundations as well as method(olog)ical and practical research questions. The authors also provide sound insights into a disparate field of work, disclose practical research strategies, and present methodologically sophisticated systematizations.

In and with this new issue of Borders in Perspective we invite you to engage in productive boundary work and encourage you to critically examine the relationship between nature and culture in the Anthropocene. In the current geological epoch of the Anthropocene, in which humankind is seen as the central driving force for global changes in ecological systems, seemingly secure boundaries between nature and society are on the one hand dissolving and on the other hand being redrawn elsewhere. The boundaries between society and nature, science and politics or individual disciplines are no longer clearly and easy to define. In view of pressing phenomena such as climate change, the loss of biodiversity and growing social inequalities, cross-border research is needed - research that does not stop at disciplinary boundaries, but transcends them. This issue is therefore intended to provide an impetus for exploring boundary phenomena in the relationship between nature and society, which have so far not been the focus of border studies. The authors of the new issue of Borders in Perspective, for example, examine the various ways in which borders are drawn and dissolved in the Anthropocene from multiple perspectives and multidisciplinary directions.