Center for Border Studies - Working Paper
Filtern
Sprache
- Englisch (4) (entfernen)
Schlagworte
- COVID-19 (2)
- Grenzüberschreitende Kooperation (2)
- Pandemie (2)
- Abschiebung (1)
- Belarus (1)
- Bildung (1)
- COVID-19 pandemic (1)
- Covid-19 (1)
- Deutschland (1)
- Europäische Union (1)
14
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 func-tioning 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 insti-tutional 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 circum-stances. Against this backdrop, factors that enhanced or hindered the adaptation process were identi-fied. The German-Polish borderland serves here as a case study, although it will be situated within a wider European context.
8
In current times, the coronavirus is spreading and taking its toll all over the world. Inspite of having developed into a global pandemic, COVID-19 is oftentimes met with local national(ist) reactions. Many states pursue iso-lationist politics by closing and enforcing borders and by focusing entirely on their own functioning in this mo-ment of crisis. This nationalist/nationally-oriented rebordering politics goes hand in hand with what might be termed ‘linguistic rebordering,’ i.e. the attempts of constructing the disease as something foreign-grown and by apportioning the blame to ‘the other.’ This paper aims at laying bare the interconnectedness of these geopoliti-cal and linguistic/discursive rebordering politics. It questions their efficacy and makes a plea for cross-border solidarity.
15
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 bor-derlands). 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 su-perficial and focused on specific issues only. These differences reveal the solutions that should be im-plemented to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on those projects within each borderland.
16
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.