Routledge Borderlands Studies
Borderlands are spaces of transition between cultures, societies and states. Often, like in the case of the US and Mexico, they are understood as static territorial lines and buffer zones, subservient to the development of states and state territories. However, borderlands can also be fluid and ambiguous spaces, moulded by processes of economic and political integration or shifting geopolitical dividing lines. Moreover, borderlands cultures can be found far from borders, in cities, multicultural neighbourhoods and diasporic communities. They also exist as both future-oriented geographical imaginations and imaginaries with profound historical roots. Today, globalisation, integration and new transnational forms of communication change the complex interrelationships between state, society, space and borders. Consequently, borderlands become more and more places in their own right, reflecting broader supranational patterns of political, economic and social change.
With this series we encourage inter- and multidisciplinary investigation on borders and borderlands throughout the world. We engage with the political, social and historical richness of borderlands, reflecting their unique (geo)political and cultural significance in contexts of colonial rule, nation-building and integration. The Series will explore, among other things, shifting social and political relations and place-related identities that emerge in borderlands, as well as cross-border interaction and the historical memories of every-day life at borders. With this series, we will both contribute to the rich tradition of North American and European borderlands studies and provide a forum for new growing interest in research on borderlands in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
To submit proposals, please contact the series editors, or Routledge’s Development Studies Editor, Helena Hurd ([email protected]).
Series Editors:
James W. Scott, Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland
Ilkka Liikanen, Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland
Edited
By Steen Bo Frandsen, Jörg Hackmann, Kimmo Katajala
March 18, 2024
This book considers competing memory politics in European border towns after the First and Second World Wars. In the twentieth century Europe’s borders shifted dramatically in the wake of war, and towns were often moved from one state to another despite their physical locations remaining unchanged....
By Pierre-Alexandre Beylier
November 03, 2023
For residents living at national borders, the divisions between countries are rarely black and white, and often everyday interactions contribute to the creation of a cross-border region. This book examines this phenomenon in Cascadia, which runs along the Canada/US border in the Pacific Northwest. ...
Edited
By Kahina Le Louvier, Karen Latricia Hough
September 04, 2023
This book analyses bordering practices and their negative effects as well as the many creative and often grassroots ways in which borders are resisted and reinvented. From the hostile environment to Brexit and the Nationality and Borders Bill, the UK border regime has become increasingly strict ...
Edited
By Jussi P. Laine, Ilkka Liikanen, James W. Scott
May 31, 2023
This book critically analyses the changing EU-Russian security environment in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, with a particular focus on northern Europe where the EU and the Russian Federation share a common border. Russian involvement in conflict situations in the EU’s immediate neighbourhood has...
By Victor Konrad, Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary
December 29, 2022
This book introduces readers to the cultural imaginings of borders: the in-between spaces in which transnationalism collides with geopolitical cooperation and contestation. Recent debates about the "refugee crisis" and the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic have politicized culture at and of borders ...
Edited
By Sabine von Löwis, Beate Eschment
August 18, 2022
This book investigates how borders in former Soviet Union territories have evolved and shifted in the thirty years since the end of the Cold War. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to fifteen independent states and numerous de facto states; but this process of rebordering is not finished...
By Cathal McCall
May 07, 2021
When the 1998 Good Friday Agreement brought an end to decades of conflict, which was mainly focused on the existence of the Irish border, most breathed a sigh of relief. Then came Brexit. Border Ireland: From Partition to Brexit introduces readers to the Irish border. It considers the process of ...
By Şule Can
October 08, 2019
The Turkish-Syrian borderlands host almost half of the Syrian refugees, with an estimated 1.5 million people arriving in the area following the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. This book investigates the ongoing negotiations of ethnicity, religion and state at the border, as refugees struggle to ...
Edited
By Anthony Cooper, Søren Tinning
August 06, 2019
This book brings together insights from border scholars and philosophers to ask how we are to define and understand concepts of borders today. Borders have a defining role in contemporary societies. Take, for example, the 2016 US election and the UK Brexit referendum, and subsequent debate, where ...
By Mariama Khan
June 03, 2019
This book interrogates the validity of longstanding claims that Gambians and Senegalese are 'one' people in two countries and explores how that claim intersects with the politics and development needs of the two countries. Half a century after independence, proponents of Senegambian unification ...
By Jaume Castan Pinos
October 09, 2018
Humanitarian intervention is rising ever higher in international relations discourse, with many publications exploring the nature, legality and success of these interventions. However, less attention is given to what happens after an intervention. This book looks in particular at the implications ...
Edited
By Jussi P. Laine, Ilkka Liikanen, James W. Scott
June 27, 2018
In the aftermath of the Ukraine crises, borders within the wider post-Cold War and post-Soviet context have become a key issue for international relations and public political debate. These borders are frequently viewed in terms of military preparedness and confrontation, but behind armed ...