Theories – Concepts – Terms

The article covers several themes and concepts that have been important in the development of border studies over the last few years. In doing so, it addresses emerging research perspectives of a nature to bring about a conceptual change in the viewpoint of human geography. Based on the existing literature, the authors emphasise that current work on border is looking at the reasons underlying border production through the daily practices of the populations, and by understanding borders as institutions, processes and symbols all at the same time. Particular attention is paid to the process of reconfiguring state borders in terms of territorial control, security and sovereignty as well as the interrelations between the spheres of daily life, power and the construction of social borders.

Arts de dire et Formes de contrôle en situations de plurilinguisme (Ways of saying it and Forms of control in plurilinguistic situations) is the title of a Grande Leçon document produced by a number of lecturers from the Greater region, from the fields of sociolinguistics, ethnolinguistics and linguistics. The authors propose to address the issue of plurilingualism in our society through discussions, presentations and illustrations of situations at a cross-border seminar organised by the University of the Greater Region.  The "Lesson" proposes content relating to switching between languages and linguistic legitimacies, linguistic ecology in educational settings and plurilinguistic practices in universities. Many extra educational materials and a wide-ranging bibliography are available to the user.

The Euroregions can be defined as European cross-border structures that play an influential role at the borders between European countries. Les Euroregions have an important role to play in increasing territorial cooperation. It is therefore important to provide support for the development of these structures. This book is a catalogue of good practices for the Euroregions intended to provide solutions liable to inspire a higher level of cross-border cohesion and positive progress in the process of European integration.

The Central European Service for Cross-border Initiatives was founded in 2009 according to the model of the French association Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière. The centre would like to make implementation of cross-border projects possible. It is supported on a national level and summarises the actors of the border areas. This way, it can promote a structured dialogue between the (national and European) authorities and between the local and regional actors.

Located in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the interdisciplinary Centre for International Border Research deals with border reconfiguration and conflict transformation at various levels. The academic staff involved comes from anthropology, geography, political science and sociology. The network represents an opportunity for scholars worldwide to network and exchange research outputs on borders. It does so by a wide range of activities: organization/supporting seminars and conferences, running a visiting fellowship programme, publishing working papers, hosting a well-documented multi-media resource platform. The website provides free access to a large extent of the network. The website documents mainly activities that ran in the 2000s and early 2010s.

In “Europe as borderlands” Balibar first outlines the theoretical connections between borders, political spaces, and citizenship. In the second part, Balibar rethinks the notions of (de)territorialization in an attempt of analyzing the “’material constitution’ of Europe [and] the emergence of the ‘European citizen’ as a new historic figure” (p. 202). All topics are united in part three, where Balibar outlines his ideas of the new, cosmopolitcal or transnational citizen and their role in the borderland model of Europe.

The main goals of this work group are:
•    Highlighting issues, options, areas of responsibility, and specific activities of these regions;
•    Representation of their shared interest with the parliaments, legal entities, authorities and institutions on national and international levels;
•    Initiation, support and coordination of cooperation between the regions through Europe;
•    Encouragement to exchange experience and information to identify and coordinate the shared interests at the diverse issues and options, as well as to suggest potential solutions.
The work group of European border regions also does lobby work through the representation of the voice of the cross-border regions in the European institutes.