Borders of the European Union : Strategies of Crossing and Resistance
edited by :
Paul BAUER and Mathilde DARLEY
Prague, CEFRES, 2007, 294 p.
ISBN 978-80-86311-00-5

In the European post-Cold-War context, marked by the end of the bipolar world order which had played an essential role in the sacralization of borders, is the national border as a producer of spaces and representations to disappear, transcended by processes of economic and political integration at local and European level ? Or do we observe, at the local scale, a relative autonomy of the way of living the “limit” and of its representations vis-à-vis national and regional policies ? Are lines of rupture similar within the European space and at its periphery ? Are they becoming more and more numerous and multiform or are they, on the contrary, harmonizing as a result of a global political approach of “transborder” practices ? The texts gathered in this book should not be seen as a collection of answers to contemporary interrogations that the “frontier phenomenon” raises in a territorially, politically and economically mutating Europe. But they contribute to nourish a common reflection, through the exposition of different border situations at the margins of or within the European Union : the one of the relation between, on the one side, the emergence of a « European model » of border development and control, and, on the other, local economic needs, the historical thickness of local and national experiences, and the construction of identities.

Contents
« Prefaces » Michel Foucher / Hastings Donnan
« Introduction » Paul Bauer, Mathilde Darley
« Outer Borders, Inner Boundaries in Finland : The Reconstructed Russian Border and the Changing Geography of Memory » Jocelyn Parot
« Multicultural Policy as a Resisting Strategy of a Border Society : The uses of Ethnicity in the Spanish Enclave of Melilla » Eduard Rodriguez-Martin
« Practices and Discourses of Uneven Development : The Role of Border in Cultural Politics of the Identity of the Belarusian Community in Warsaw » Siarhei Liubimau
« New Forms of Mobility at the Romanian-Moldovan Border : European Enlargement and Changing Living Strategies » Bénédicte Michalon
« Borders : A Resource for Underground Economies » Pauline Carnet
« Are Cross-Border Urban Spaces European Integration Patterns at Local Level ? Analysis of the Management of Urban Areas astride the ’French Border’ » Bernard Reitel
« Everyday Life Near State Borders. The Social Effects of the Changing Status of Borders in Central Europe (Romania – Hungary) » Emmanuel Bioteau
« De-Traditionalizing the Cross-Border Co-Operation Practices : Interests, Values and “Culture” at the Finnish-Russian Boundary » Karri Kiiskinen
« The Primeval Forest at the Belarusian Border in Poland : Constituting and Crossing Borders » Eunice Blavascunas
« The Tri-National Prespa Park in Albania, Greece and Macedonia (FYROM) : Using Environment to Define the New Boundaries of the European Union » Jean Gardin
« Conclusion » Paul Bauer, Mathilde Darley

To order the book, please contact claire@cefres.cz