Border Regions Series – serie

For whom and why are borders drawn? What are the symbolic projections of these physical realities? And what are the symbolic projections of these physical realities? Constituted by experience and memory, borders shape a "border image" in the minds and social memory of people beyond the lines of the state. In the case of the Turkey-Georgia border, the image of the border has often been constructed as an economic reality that creates "conditional permeabilities" rather than political emphases. This book puts forward the argument that participation in this economic life reshapes the relationship between the ethnic groups who live in the borderland as well as gender relations. By drawing on detailed ethnographic research at the Turkey-Georgia border, life at the border is explored in terms of family relations, work life, and intra- and inter-ethnic group relations. Using an intersectional approach, the book charts the perceptions and representations of how different ethnic and gendered groups experience interactions among themselves, with each other, and with the changing economic context.This book offers a rich, empirically based account of the intersectional and multidimensional forms of economic activity in border regions. It will be of interest to students, researchers, and policy makers alike working in geography, economics, ethnic studies, gender studies, international relations, and political studies.

This book looks at the ways African borders impact war and conflict, as well as the ways continental integration could contribute towards cooperation, peace and well-being in Africa.African borders or borderlands can be a source of problems and opportunity. There is often a historical, geospatial and geopolitical architecture rooted in trajectories of war, conflict and instability, which could be transformed into those of peace, regional and continental integration and development. An example is the cross-border and regional response to the Boko Haram insurgency in West Africa. This book engages with cross-border forms of cooperation and opportunity in Africa. It considers initiatives and innovations which can be put in place or are already being employed on the ground, within the current regional and continental integration projects. Another important element is that of cross-border informality, which similarly provides a ready resource that, if properly harnessed and regulated, could unleash the development potential of African borders and borderlands.Students and scholars within Geography, International Relations and Border Studies will find this book useful. It will also benefit civil society practitioners, policymakers and activists in the NGO sector interested in issues such as migration, social cohesion, citizenship and local development.

This book critically challenges the usual territorial understanding of borders by examining the often messy internal, transborder, ambiguous, and in-between spaces that co-exist with traditional borders. By considering those less visible aspects of borders, the book develops an inclusive understanding of how contemporary borders are structured and how they influence human identity, mobility, and belonging. The introduction and conclusion provide theoretical and contextual framing, while chapters explore topics of global labor and refugees, unrecognized states, ethnic networks, cyberspace, transboundary resource conflicts, and indigenous and religious spaces that rarely register on conventional maps or commonplace understandings of territory. In the end, the volume demonstrates that, despite being "invisible" on most maps, these borders have a very real, material, and tangible presence and consequences for those people who live within, alongside, and across them.

This book challenges the common European notions about African migration to Europe and offers a holistic understanding of the current situation in Africa. It advocates a need to rethink Africa-Europe relations and view migration and borders as a resource rather than sources of a crisis.Migrant movement from Africa is often misunderstood and misrepresented as invasion caused by displacement due to poverty, violent conflict and environmental stress. To control this movement and preserve national identities, the EU and its various member states resort to closing borders as a way of reinforcing their migration policies. This book aims to dismantle this stereotypical view of migration from Africa by sharing cutting-edge research from the leading scholars in Africa and Europe. It refutes the flawed narratives that position Africa as a threat to the European societies, their economies and security, and encourages a nuanced understanding of the root causes as well as the socioeconomic factors that guide the migrants’ decision-making. With chapters written in a concise style, this book brings together the migration and border studies in an innovative way to delve into the broader societal impacts of both. It also serves to de-silence the African voices in order to offer fresh insights on African migration – a discourse dominated hitherto by the European perspective.This book constitutes a valuable resource for research scholars and students of Border Studies, Migration Studies, Conflict and Security Studies, and Development Studies seeking specialisation in these areas. Written in an accessible style, it will also appeal to a more general public interested in gaining a fuller perspective on the African reality.Chapter 13 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This book challenges the common European notions about African migration to Europe and offers a holistic understanding of the current situation in Africa. It advocates a need to rethink Africa-Europe relations and view migration and borders as a resource rather than sources of a crisis.Migrant movement from Africa is often misunderstood and misrepresented as invasion caused by displacement due to poverty, violent conflict and environmental stress. To control this movement and preserve national identities, the EU and its various member states resort to closing borders as a way of reinforcing their migration policies. This book aims to dismantle this stereotypical view of migration from Africa by sharing cutting-edge research from the leading scholars in Africa and Europe. It refutes the flawed narratives that position Africa as a threat to the European societies, their economies and security, and encourages a nuanced understanding of the root causes as well as the socioeconomic factors that guide the migrants’ decision-making. With chapters written in a concise style, this book brings together the migration and border studies in an innovative way to delve into the broader societal impacts of both. It also serves to de-silence the African voices in order to offer fresh insights on African migration – a discourse dominated hitherto by the European perspective.This book constitutes a valuable resource for research scholars and students of Border Studies, Migration Studies, Conflict and Security Studies, and Development Studies seeking specialisation in these areas. Written in an accessible style, it will also appeal to a more general public interested in gaining a fuller perspective on the African reality.Chapter 13 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This book discusses regional and continental integration in Africa by examining the management of migration across the continent. It examines borders and securitisation of migration and the challenges and opportunities that arise out of reconfigured continental demographics.The book offers insights on intra-Africa migrations and highlights how intra-continental migration creates socio-economic and cultural borders. It explores how these borders, beyond the physical boundaries of states, including the Berlin Conference-constructed borders, create cultural divides, challenges for economic integration and cross-border security, and irregular migration patterns. While the movement of economic goods is valued for regional economic integration, the mobility of people is seen as a threat. This approach to migration contradicts the intentions of true integration and development, and triggers negative responses such as xenophobia that cannot be addressed by simply managing the physical border and allowing free movement. This book engages in a pivotal discussion of these issues, which are hitherto missing in African border studies, by demonstrating the ubiquity and overreaching influence of various kinds of borders on the African continent.With multidisciplinary contributions that provide an in-depth understanding of intra-Africa migrations and strategies for enhanced migration management, this book will be a useful resource for scholars and students studying geography, politics, security studies, development studies, African studies and sociology.

This book discusses regional and continental integration in Africa by examining the management of migration across the continent. It examines borders and securitisation of migration and the challenges and opportunities that arise out of reconfigured continental demographics.The book offers insights on intra-Africa migrations and highlights how intra-continental migration creates socio-economic and cultural borders. It explores how these borders, beyond the physical boundaries of states, including the Berlin Conference-constructed borders, create cultural divides, challenges for economic integration and cross-border security, and irregular migration patterns. While the movement of economic goods is valued for regional economic integration, the mobility of people is seen as a threat. This approach to migration contradicts the intentions of true integration and development, and triggers negative responses such as xenophobia that cannot be addressed by simply managing the physical border and allowing free movement. This book engages in a pivotal discussion of these issues, which are hitherto missing in African border studies, by demonstrating the ubiquity and overreaching influence of various kinds of borders on the African continent.With multidisciplinary contributions that provide an in-depth understanding of intra-Africa migrations and strategies for enhanced migration management, this book will be a useful resource for scholars and students studying geography, politics, security studies, development studies, African studies and sociology.

The optimism heralded by the end of the Cold War and the idea of an emerging borderless world was soon shadowed by conflicts, wars, terrorism, and new border walls. Migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees have simultaneously become key political figures. Border and mobility studies are now two sides of the same coin. The chapters of this volume reflect the changing relations between borders, bordering practices, and mobilities. They provide both theoretical insights and contextual knowledge on how borders, bordering practices, and ethical issues come together in mobilities. The chapters scrutinize how bounded (territorial) and open/networked (relational) spaces manifest in various contexts. The first section, ‘Borders in a borderless world’, raises theoretical questions. The second, ‘Politics of inclusion and exclusion’, looks at bordering practices in the context of migration. The third section, ‘Contested mobilities and encounters’, focuses on tourism, which has been an ‘accepted’ form of mobility but which has recently become an object of critique because of overtourism. Section four, ‘Borders, security, politics’, examines bordering practices and security in the EU and beyond, highlighting how the migration/border politics nexus has become a national and supra-national political challenge. The chapters of this interdisciplinary volume contribute both conceptually and empirically to understanding contemporary bordering practices and mobilities. It is essential reading for geographers, political scientists, sociologists, and international relations scholars interested in the contemporary meanings of borders and mobilities.

This book provides an interdisciplinary approach to power, inclusion/exclusion and hierarchy in a Turkish border town, with a focus on the impact of nation-state border on social stratification and change.Through the lens of ethnographic research and oral history, the book explores social mobility among various strata within the context of transition from Ottoman rule to the Republican regime, in order to reveal culturally informed strategies of border dwellers in coming to grips with new border contexts. It is suggested that the border perspective will move the social analysis beyond "methodological territorialism" and provide a theoretical framework that explores social change at the intersection of local, national and transnational processes.This book will appeal to readers interested in borders and circulations, social structure and power relations in border regions, as well as transnational shadow networks in the Turkish/Middle Eastern context. The book is a valuable resource for students and scholars of border anthropology, political and economic geography, studies of globalization and transnationalism, anthropology of illegality and Turkish and Middle Eastern studies. It will be a useful grounding for humanitarian professionals who are learning about the social and economic landscape of border towns.

This book offers new insights into the current, highly complex border transitions taking place at the EU internal and external border areas, as well as globally. It focuses on new frontiers and intersections between borders, borderlands and resilience, developing new understandings of resilience through the prism of borders. The book provides new perspectives into how different groups of people and communities experience, adapt and resist the transitions and uncertainties of border closures and securitization in their everyday and professional lives. The book also provides new methodological guidelines for the study of borders and multi-sited bordering and resilience processes. The book bridges border studies and social scientific resilience research in new and innovative. It will be of interest to students and scholars in geography, political studies, international relations, security studies and anthropology.

This book offers new insights into the current, highly complex border transitions taking place at the EU internal and external border areas, as well as globally. It focuses on new frontiers and intersections between borders, borderlands and resilience, developing new understandings of resilience through the prism of borders. The book provides new perspectives into how different groups of people and communities experience, adapt and resist the transitions and uncertainties of border closures and securitization in their everyday and professional lives. The book also provides new methodological guidelines for the study of borders and multi-sited bordering and resilience processes. The book bridges border studies and social scientific resilience research in new and innovative. It will be of interest to students and scholars in geography, political studies, international relations, security studies and anthropology.

Offering a detailed analysis of post-colonial South Asia, The Politics of Dialogue discusses the creation and impact of borders and the pervasive tension between the new nations. Neither all-out war nor complete peace, this fragile condition makes political leaders and strategists feel claustrophobic - a war produces an end result but peace allows the rulers to carry out their policies for governing along their preferred path of development. The book shows how cartographic, communal and political lines are not only dividing countries, but that they are being replicated within countries, creating new visible and invisible internal frontiers. It argues that, in a situation where geopolitics constrains democracy, the political class becomes incapable of coping with the tension between the inside/outside, eg democracy appears as an internal problem and geopolitics appears as a problem related to the 'outside'.

In the wake of globalization, numerous social scientists are turning to concepts of mobility, fluidity and hybridity to characterize a presumed de-territorialization and de-bordering of contemporary social and economic relations. This book brings together a select group of internationally renowned human geographers to explore the use of these concepts in relation to space, place and territory. In doing so, they (re)situate the subject of borders as active socio-spatial processes from a variety of theoretical perspectives. The contributors link debates on borders to discussions within the wider sphere of cultural studies, notably those addressing themes of migration, post-colonialism, the formation of national/regional identities and radical democratic practice. The chapters focus on those discursive practices that constitute 'bordered' geographical entities in the first instance through differentiated regimes of discourse. The book thus transcends the narrower field of borderlands research by building bridges to other domains of enquiry within political and human geography.

In the early 1990s, borders within Europe and between the United States and Mexico began to open. The increasing flow of goods, capital, ideas and people across boundaries promised to reduce physical and cognitive distances. Simultaneously, challenges to identity have arisen within and between the European nation-states, driven not only by internal cultural and political dynamics, but also by processes of globalization. Concurrently, the US-Mexican border emerged in public consciousness as a location of new opportunities, largely due to public perception of the benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This book explores some of the contradictory, yet simultaneous, processes affecting border regions. A team of leading scientists offers a wide range of perspectives on global, national, regional and local processes, and provides a useful matrix for understanding their complex, multilayered implications. Key concepts such as globalization, borders and identities are illustrated through local and regional case studies.

September 11, 2001 marked the beginning of a new era of security imperatives for many countries. The border between Canada and the United States suddenly emerged from relative obscurity to become a focus of constant attention by media, federal and state/provincial governments on both sides of the boundary, and the public at large. This book provides a comprehensive examination of the Canada-USA border in its 21st century form, placing it within the context of border and borderlands theory, globalization and the changing geopolitical dialogue. It argues that this border has been reinvented as a 'state of the art', technology-steeped crossing system, while the image of the border has been engineered to appear consistent with the 'friendly' border of the past. It shows how a border can evolve to a heightened level of security and yet continue to function well, sustaining the massive flow of trade. It argues whether, in doing so, the US-Canada border offers a model for future borderlands. Although this model is still evolving and still aspires toward better management practices, the template may prove useful, not only for North America, but also in conflict border zones as well as the meshed border regions of the EU, Africa's artificial line boundaries and other global situations.

This book provides an interdisciplinary approach to power, inclusion/exclusion and hierarchy in a Turkish border town, with a focus on the impact of nation-state border on social stratification and change.Through the lens of ethnographic research and oral history, the book explores social mobility among various strata within the context of transition from Ottoman rule to the Republican regime, in order to reveal culturally informed strategies of border dwellers in coming to grips with new border contexts. It is suggested that the border perspective will move the social analysis beyond "methodological territorialism" and provide a theoretical framework that explores social change at the intersection of local, national and transnational processes.This book will appeal to readers interested in borders and circulations, social structure and power relations in border regions, as well as transnational shadow networks in the Turkish/Middle Eastern context. The book is a valuable resource for students and scholars of border anthropology, political and economic geography, studies of globalization and transnationalism, anthropology of illegality and Turkish and Middle Eastern studies. It will be a useful grounding for humanitarian professionals who are learning about the social and economic landscape of border towns.

The optimism heralded by the end of the Cold War and the idea of an emerging borderless world was soon shadowed by conflicts, wars, terrorism, and new border walls. Migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees have simultaneously become key political figures. Border and mobility studies are now two sides of the same coin. The chapters of this volume reflect the changing relations between borders, bordering practices, and mobilities. They provide both theoretical insights and contextual knowledge on how borders, bordering practices, and ethical issues come together in mobilities. The chapters scrutinize how bounded (territorial) and open/networked (relational) spaces manifest in various contexts. The first section, ‘Borders in a borderless world’, raises theoretical questions. The second, ‘Politics of inclusion and exclusion’, looks at bordering practices in the context of migration. The third section, ‘Contested mobilities and encounters’, focuses on tourism, which has been an ‘accepted’ form of mobility but which has recently become an object of critique because of overtourism. Section four, ‘Borders, security, politics’, examines bordering practices and security in the EU and beyond, highlighting how the migration/border politics nexus has become a national and supra-national political challenge. The chapters of this interdisciplinary volume contribute both conceptually and empirically to understanding contemporary bordering practices and mobilities. It is essential reading for geographers, political scientists, sociologists, and international relations scholars interested in the contemporary meanings of borders and mobilities.

This book examines the rapidly expanding EU agency’s distinct role in EU border control, showing that Frontex is a prominent border control actor that reshapes the EU borders by promoting a new border control culture. Bringing culture into the analysis of Frontex, this book offers an alternative in-depth understanding of the agency’s function, focusing on the production and diffusion of border control assumptions and practices within a border control community. Based on data drawn from primary research at Frontex and two EU external borders, namely Lampedusa and Evros, this book examines Frontex’s contribution to the emergence of a new border control culture in Europe, replacing the pre-existing Schengen culture. Compared with the existing literature on Frontex, this novel account takes into consideration the evolving nature of borders and border control, discussing three contemporary challenges for the established border control regime: Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, and hard security preoccupations, such as the fall-out from the Russian invasion in Ukraine and the weaponisation of migration at the Greek-Turkish land border. Frontex and the Rising of a New Border Control Culture in Europe will appeal to scholars and students of border management, EU studies, migration, geography, international relations, and security, along with policymakers and practitioners with an interest in EU border control and Frontex.

This book examines the rapidly expanding EU agency’s distinct role in EU border control, showing that Frontex is a prominent border control actor that reshapes the EU borders by promoting a new border control culture. Bringing culture into the analysis of Frontex, this book offers an alternative in-depth understanding of the agency’s function, focusing on the production and diffusion of border control assumptions and practices within a border control community. Based on data drawn from primary research at Frontex and two EU external borders, namely Lampedusa and Evros, this book examines Frontex’s contribution to the emergence of a new border control culture in Europe, replacing the pre-existing Schengen culture. Compared with the existing literature on Frontex, this novel account takes into consideration the evolving nature of borders and border control, discussing three contemporary challenges for the established border control regime: Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, and hard security preoccupations, such as the fall-out from the Russian invasion in Ukraine and the weaponisation of migration at the Greek-Turkish land border. Frontex and the Rising of a New Border Control Culture in Europe will appeal to scholars and students of border management, EU studies, migration, geography, international relations, and security, along with policymakers and practitioners with an interest in EU border control and Frontex.

This book critically challenges the usual territorial understanding of borders by examining the often messy internal, transborder, ambiguous, and in-between spaces that co-exist with traditional borders. By considering those less visible aspects of borders, the book develops an inclusive understanding of how contemporary borders are structured and how they influence human identity, mobility, and belonging. The introduction and conclusion provide theoretical and contextual framing, while chapters explore topics of global labor and refugees, unrecognized states, ethnic networks, cyberspace, transboundary resource conflicts, and indigenous and religious spaces that rarely register on conventional maps or commonplace understandings of territory. In the end, the volume demonstrates that, despite being "invisible" on most maps, these borders have a very real, material, and tangible presence and consequences for those people who live within, alongside, and across them.

This book looks at the ways African borders impact war and conflict, as well as the ways continental integration could contribute towards cooperation, peace and well-being in Africa.African borders or borderlands can be a source of problems and opportunity. There is often a historical, geospatial and geopolitical architecture rooted in trajectories of war, conflict and instability, which could be transformed into those of peace, regional and continental integration and development. An example is the cross-border and regional response to the Boko Haram insurgency in West Africa. This book engages with cross-border forms of cooperation and opportunity in Africa. It considers initiatives and innovations which can be put in place or are already being employed on the ground, within the current regional and continental integration projects. Another important element is that of cross-border informality, which similarly provides a ready resource that, if properly harnessed and regulated, could unleash the development potential of African borders and borderlands.Students and scholars within Geography, International Relations and Border Studies will find this book useful. It will also benefit civil society practitioners, policymakers and activists in the NGO sector interested in issues such as migration, social cohesion, citizenship and local development.

This book provides a sophisticated analysis of cross-border challenges and problems in the southern African region. It advances explanations that transcend the state-centric narrative that has nationalised cross-border security.It provides insights from non-state actors such as informal cross-border traders (ICBTs), informal cross-border transporters, undocumented migrants, and cross-border communities. It argues that security needs to be understood beyond a state-centric paradigm by focusing on the political, economic, environmental, and societal threats at macro, meso, and micro levels. The book suggests that at the core of cross-border security challenges in the Southern African region is a post-colonial governmentality. This drives the nationalisation of cross-border security as though it is the only security leading to nation-states, in turn depoliticising and invisibilising the security and livelihoods of ordinary people, even when nation-states claim to be protecting the same.The book will be a useful resource for students, scholars, and researchers of African Studies, Border Studies, Human Geography, Migration Studies, Development Studies, International Studies, International Relations, Political Science, and Security Studies.

This book provides a sophisticated analysis of cross-border challenges and problems in the southern African region. It advances explanations that transcend the state-centric narrative that has nationalised cross-border security.It provides insights from non-state actors such as informal cross-border traders (ICBTs), informal cross-border transporters, undocumented migrants, and cross-border communities. It argues that security needs to be understood beyond a state-centric paradigm by focusing on the political, economic, environmental, and societal threats at macro, meso, and micro levels. The book suggests that at the core of cross-border security challenges in the Southern African region is a post-colonial governmentality. This drives the nationalisation of cross-border security as though it is the only security leading to nation-states, in turn depoliticising and invisibilising the security and livelihoods of ordinary people, even when nation-states claim to be protecting the same.The book will be a useful resource for students, scholars, and researchers of African Studies, Border Studies, Human Geography, Migration Studies, Development Studies, International Studies, International Relations, Political Science, and Security Studies.

This book examines the experiences of Ukrainians who fled the escalated war, focusing on their journeys to the European Union, adaptation there, and eventual return and reintegration into Ukraine.Drawing on fieldwork in Ukraine in 2024 and 2025, surveys, and interviews with returnees, it provides detailed analysis and vivid accounts of displacement and return. It also incorporates findings from organizations such as UNHCR and IOM, and explores potential post-war developments shaping both returnees’ lives and Ukraine’s future.Aimed at scholars, policymakers, and all interested readers, the book sheds light on Ukrainians’ migration experiences, their perceptions of temporary protection in the European Union, and the opportunities and challenges they face after returning.

Bordering no longer happens only at the borderline separating two sovereign states, but rather through a wide range of practices and decisions that occur in multiple locations within and beyond the state’s territory. Nevertheless, it is too simplistic to suggest that borders are everywhere, since this view fails to acknowledge that particular sites are significant nodes where border work is done. Similarly, border work is more likely to be done by particular people than others. This book investigates the diffusion of bordering narratives and practices by asking ’who borders and how?’ Placing the Border in Everyday Life complicates the connection between borders and sovereign states by identifying the individuals and organizations that engage in border work at a range of scales and places. This edited volume includes contributions from major international scholars in the field of border studies and allied disciplines who analyze where and why border work is done. By combining a new theorization of border work beyond the state with rich empirical case studies, this book makes a ground-breaking contribution to the study of borders and the state in the era of globalization.

September 11, 2001 marked the beginning of a new era of security imperatives for many countries. The border between Canada and the United States suddenly emerged from relative obscurity to become a focus of constant attention by media, federal and state/provincial governments on both sides of the boundary, and the public at large. This book provides a comprehensive examination of the Canada-USA border in its 21st century form, placing it within the context of border and borderlands theory, globalization and the changing geopolitical dialogue. It argues that this border has been reinvented as a 'state of the art', technology-steeped crossing system, while the image of the border has been engineered to appear consistent with the 'friendly' border of the past. It shows how a border can evolve to a heightened level of security and yet continue to function well, sustaining the massive flow of trade. It argues whether, in doing so, the US-Canada border offers a model for future borderlands. Although this model is still evolving and still aspires toward better management practices, the template may prove useful, not only for North America, but also in conflict border zones as well as the meshed border regions of the EU, Africa's artificial line boundaries and other global situations.

Offering a detailed analysis of post-colonial South Asia, The Politics of Dialogue discusses the creation and impact of borders and the pervasive tension between the new nations. Neither all-out war nor complete peace, this fragile condition makes political leaders and strategists feel claustrophobic - a war produces an end result but peace allows the rulers to carry out their policies for governing along their preferred path of development. The book shows how cartographic, communal and political lines are not only dividing countries, but that they are being replicated within countries, creating new visible and invisible internal frontiers. It argues that, in a situation where geopolitics constrains democracy, the political class becomes incapable of coping with the tension between the inside/outside, eg democracy appears as an internal problem and geopolitics appears as a problem related to the 'outside'.

In the wake of globalization, numerous social scientists are turning to concepts of mobility, fluidity and hybridity to characterize a presumed de-territorialization and de-bordering of contemporary social and economic relations. This book brings together a select group of internationally renowned human geographers to explore the use of these concepts in relation to space, place and territory. In doing so, they (re)situate the subject of borders as active socio-spatial processes from a variety of theoretical perspectives. The contributors link debates on borders to discussions within the wider sphere of cultural studies, notably those addressing themes of migration, post-colonialism, the formation of national/regional identities and radical democratic practice. The chapters focus on those discursive practices that constitute 'bordered' geographical entities in the first instance through differentiated regimes of discourse. The book thus transcends the narrower field of borderlands research by building bridges to other domains of enquiry within political and human geography.

In the early 1990s, borders within Europe and between the United States and Mexico began to open. The increasing flow of goods, capital, ideas and people across boundaries promised to reduce physical and cognitive distances. Simultaneously, challenges to identity have arisen within and between the European nation-states, driven not only by internal cultural and political dynamics, but also by processes of globalization. Concurrently, the US-Mexican border emerged in public consciousness as a location of new opportunities, largely due to public perception of the benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This book explores some of the contradictory, yet simultaneous, processes affecting border regions. A team of leading scientists offers a wide range of perspectives on global, national, regional and local processes, and provides a useful matrix for understanding their complex, multilayered implications. Key concepts such as globalization, borders and identities are illustrated through local and regional case studies.