 Border studies and contemporary history from a European perspectiveBirte Wassenberg Chapter 8 in Border Studies, 2025, pp 149-166 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: This chapter emphasizes a new approach to borders by scholars of contemporary history in Europe, which identifies a shift away from the role of borders as territorial state markers towards a place of horizontal integration. It first presents three different strands of research in border studies: a ‘classical’ one as part of the history of nation states, a strand that focuses on the history of border regions, and a third one at the intersection between European studies and international relations, which focuses on the link between border regions, cross-border cooperation and European integration. It then shows that the more ‘classical’ branch focuses on the border as a limit of sovereignty between nation states, whereas the two others claim that in the twenty-first century there is a new post-Westphalian order in Europe, where the Westphalian border is no longer significant. It concludes by pointing at the different European crises of (re)bordering, which have led to the return to a more (geo)political approach to borders and a new recognition of the persistence of the Westphalian border and its (geo)political functions. Keywords: Contemporary history; Westphalian border; Cross-border cooperation; European integration (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:20176_8 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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