Border Issues Research Articles

The Idea of Eastern Countries in Pacific Russia: The Paradoxes of Public Opinion

This article examines the research results of the Public Opinion Research Laboratory of the Institute of History of the RAS obtained during field studies of 2010–2021. The authors analyse the key elements of the views of the Far Eastern Federal District residents on the countries of East Asia – China, Japan, North, and South Korea. Also, the authors focus on such basic elements of these notions as historical memory, people’s economic and humanitarian needs, and external threats to regional and national security. It is established that historical memory works selectively. Regarding China, it supports the uncertain feelings of Pacific Russians in the finality of resolving the border issue between the two countries, while Japanese territorial claims are primarily perceived through the prism of modern politics. However, neither one nor the other prevents the inhabitants’ interest in the history and culture of the neighboring states, focusing their economic interests on interaction, first of all, with these three countries. It is China, Japan, and South Korea that they consistently view as major economic partners of Pacific Russia. The authors estimate that the high level of development of these countries’ economies along with the uniqueness and attractiveness of authentic cultures, as well as positive assessments of the current state and prospects of bilateral relations en masse have become the forces of attraction that encourage the Far Easterners to have a fellow feeling for them. At the same time, the countries of the Korean peninsula receive much less attention in Pacific Russia, and their images are mostly neutral and vague. The authors also note that the stereotypes that were rooted in the minds of Russians more than a century ago (the refined culture of Japan and the poor, uncultured China) place these two countries on different levels in the rating of their sympathies: Japan was a stable and undisputed leader, while China, despite noticeable rising popularity in recent years, along with South Korea remained in the middle. Finally, they conclude that a large proportion of the residents of the region, although not trusting their Asian neighbours too much, are not only interested in an economic interaction with the surrounding Asian world but are also psychologically committed to it.

Reflections on Sino-US Contradictions and Countermeasures

The world is surging, the current situation is turbulent, and China-US relations are more complex and sensitive. This paper makes a systematic analysis of China-US relations and explores ways to improve. The main contradiction of China-US relations is caused by different national strategic interests. China-US relations have adverse and favorable conditions, different values and cultural norms, which is objective and natural for the two countries. But fundamentally speaking, there is no geopolitical conflict of interest between China and the United States, no border issue or resource dispute. On the Taiwan issue, China’s main goal is to realize the reunification of the motherland, not to fight with the United States. The two poles are connected between China and the United States, occupies a pivotal position in global geography, reflects the ecological characteristics of human society, and have an irreplaceable axle bearing role on the global socio-economic and political order. China and the United States need to face up to the objectively existing situation and work together to promote the establishment of healthy, standardized and benign competition and cooperation relations; need to hold high the United Nations Charter and jointly safeguard the international order. The US strategy moves eastward, and the contradiction directly points to China, increasing the challenge of China’s external environment. China needs to base itself on the domestic market, take a global perspective, and strengthen multi-level and all-round international exchanges. Both two countries need to the unity of competition and cooperation, the unity of diversity and consistency, unity of “seeking common ground” and “reserving differences”, and enhance computing power, maintain composure and master balance.

International Arbitration by Diplomatic Means to Resolve Disputes Between the Parties

Direct diplomatic negotiations are the most important and most common means to settle international disputes. Studies indicated that, historically states had felt a legal obligation to negotiate before resorting the use of force, even if that commitment does not exceed the formal framework. This concept played its role in the efforts made by jurists during the middle-age to determine the nature of war and the necessity to negotiate before everyone agreed to use the legal forces. The negotiation of subsequent countries was considered to be one of the necessary preconditions for the recognition of fair use of power. Even if it is clear that the negotiations are nothing more than a demonstration, it still remains necessary, without it the use of power is condemned. The present study aims to provide an analytical discussion on the peaceful means of settling international disputes. Specific focus is provided to the diplomatic means of dispute settlement, especially in the gulf countries. The effectiveness of diplomatic means of dispute settlement is further studied by analyzing the case of border issues held between Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The overall discussion indicated that the role of negotiations has increased, especially after the World War II. The group witnessed a new era characterized by the propagation of alliances in various fields and the complexity of international relations, intertwining and developing in the economic, political, military, cultural, social and other areas. This helped the negotiations to flourish as the central tool of diplomacy was described as a negotiation stage. With this in mind, all the principles that regulate relations between countries are reflected in the application of method of international dialogue. The analysis revealed that though diplomatic means take long to settle disputes, they are still the most effective methods to resolve the rising conflicts between different nations. However, in cases where conflicts remain unresolved through dialogue law enforcement organizations are approached to seek solution.

Modern Kyrgyz-Tajik Border Territorial Problems

As it is known, origins of modern Kyrgyz-Tajik border-territorial disagreements date back to the national-territorial delimitation of 1920-1930th of the last century, carried out by the Soviet authorities within the framework of the USSR thoughtlessly, without taking into account local features. Research objectives: to reveal the border issue between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which was noted in Soviet times by joint parity commissions that repeatedly tried to resolve territorial disputes, but the border issue remained open. Research materials and methods: in the post-Soviet period, the border-territorial disagreements between them became even more aggravated. In Batken Oblast, where the Tajik enclave of Vorukh is located, clashes over land and water resources and infrastructure are the most frequent. The article emphasizes the need for a comprehensive solution to the problem, taking into account the interests of both parties. Research results: a comprehensive solution to the problem is needed, taking into account the interests of both parties. Conclusions: the process of agreeing borders should be accompanied by life infrastructure and socio-economic conditions improvement of the border population in both governments.

Slavic borders at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. Language-society-culture-identity

In theses, researchers from various scientific fields share their new research and their methods and application possibilities. Scientists write about linguistic and cultural relations between representatives of different nationalities, border issues, being in a multilingual and multicultural environment, and finally geopolitical changes that influence our lives. Theses also reflect the impact of the technological revolution on language and society, the emergence of new language forms and genres. The authors analyze the Internet and youth language, cultural homogenization and globalization. Attention is also drawn to rural and urban language differences, standard language and dialects, sociolects. Border regions are analyzed, which focus many identity and linguistic issues. Scientists also write about the dangers, because in the situation of multilingualism and multiculturalism there are processes that can lead to linguistic and cultural assimilation. Linguists also indicate tasks. One of them is the preparation of dialect dictionaries, flagged as an urgent task in view of the rapid disappearance of dialects or their evolution. In addition to traditional sources of material, researchers are exploring new sources such as posts on Instagram, videos on YouTube, podcasts or memes.

Post-Soviet settlement of the Sino-Soviet border: a failed attempt at a three-level game, 1991–2012

ABSTRACT After the fall of the USSR, the newly established republics had to finish negotiating the bilateral border issue with China. These states chose to have the talks as a joint delegation of post-Soviet states. They also each experienced pressure from domestic constituencies. Viewing the entire negotiation process as a three-level game, the paper argues that in all four post-Soviet states the national governments believed the cost of ‘no agreement’ with China on the border issue to be so high that they chose to risk dealing with complex issues at home over passing up the opportunity to settle the border with their strongest neighbour. They did so with little regard for domestic opposition or the restrictions posed by the previous commitments on the supranational level.

Art of Dis-bordering: The Politics of Migration Murals in Europe

ABSTRACT This article engages with art, bordering, and migration, arguing that artistic interventions present great potential for disrupting narratives about migrants’ agency and life. This process of disconnecting migrants’ identity from their univocal representation as a product of borders is articulated in the text by paying attention to art on public display as dis-bordering. By examining public expressions of resistance to borders in the form of mural paintings, it is argued that these artistic interruptions can implicate us in the process of rethinking different aspects of migration to Europe. In the concluding section, the article considers the political messages of the murals of my hometown, Orgosolo, a small museum-village in Sardinia. The internationalism and activism of mural art in the town will be explored by considering murals that deal with migrants’ journeys and identity. Overall, the article seeks to encourage self-reflection about issues of migration and borders, re-imagining and contesting bordering through art.

Controversial border and territory issues between the Mac dynasty (Dai Viet) and Ming dynasty (China)

In 1527–1541, the Mac dynasty was at risk of invasion from its northern neighbor in China and had to fight consecutively with the Revival Le dynasty in Dai Viet. Therefore, in relations with China, the Mac dynasty during this period tried to maintain peaceful relations and avoid war between the two sides. Owing to the return of several former Chinese lands to China during this period, many people, especially historians of medieval Vietnam, have condemned the humility of the Mac dynasty, especially the humility of border and territorial issues, and said that it was the surrender and betrayal of their national interests. However, based on specific evidence from both Vietnamese and Chinese sides, the current article proves that the modesty of the Mac dynasty was only a formality and strategic ploy; in essence, the Mac dynasty was independent in relation to China at that time.

SOME ASPECTS OF VIEWS ON THE FORMATION OF THE SECURITY INTERDEPENDENCE SYSTEM OF CENTRAL ASIA

The article examines the conditions of interdependence of political processes, environmental, border issues, and transport-logistics problems that have been taking place in Central Asia for the last 30 years. The relevance of the systematic approach to solving these problems and the fact that their study and implementation have a direct positive effect not only on the internal, but also on the foreign policy of the countries of the region, as well as the positive aspects that play in the integration of the Central Asian countries into the world community, are shown.

Making sense of the invisible: cognitive mapping, affective realities and the Irish/Northern Irish Border

As Brexit negotiations continue to draw criticism nearly two years on from the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, many media outlets have concentrated on making sense of what has been dubbed the ‘Brexit circus’. In particular, significant media attention has been directed towards obstacles to Brexit’s progression, such as the issue of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland and the ‘backstop’ arrangement. Through an examination of different media efforts to explain the border issue, this paper will discuss how conventional reporting methods have been unable to make this issue comprehensible to the individual. This paper will suggest that a hypertextual aesthetic form would provide a more effective means of making sense of the complexity of the border issue and its relationship to global political and economic structures. However, an understanding of the border issue also requires an understanding of the affective reality of life in this region and the history upon which this reality is founded. In this manner, this paper also argues that representational regimes capable of conveying affective realities could contribute important experiential dimensions to efforts to render dominant political and economic structures both cognisable and contestable.

The formation of Russian borders and its impact on Russia's national security

The boundary problem has not only been one of the major international conflicts but one of the most sensitive and difficult issues to deal with. Russia has had or continues to have serious western and southern border problems, which may probably or already lead to many issues, such as the challenges to Russia's national security system posed by the EU's eastward expansion and the resulting Russia-Ukraine conflict. In this paper, the author will sort out the academic research results, focus on analysing the border issues where disputes and conflicts exist in Russia, summarize the potential risks and pitfalls that still exist and discuss the negative impact of these pitfalls on the Russian national security system, as well as predict the possible future research directions. Based on the formation of Russia's borders and border problems, this paper finds that the conflicts arising from Russia's borders are not only historical problems but also the root cause of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. In the context of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, the academic community should conduct an in-depth study on the problems of Russia's borders, which problems will continue to be a potential threat to Russia's national security, and what adjustments have been made to Russia's national security system in response.

The Reshaping of China-India Relations

China-India relations are becoming increasingly competitive and volatile. The deep-rooted dynamic is the dysfunctioning of the previous interaction framework that had ensured relatively stable bilateral relationship for decades. This paper explores the main obstacles and dynamics of the current China-India relationship, including the border issue, economic relations and the Quad. It also shares some thoughts on what China and India should do to move forward the bilateral relationship.

BORDER-BASED MANAGEMENT AT MADRASAH IBTIDAIYAH IN SEBATIK, NORTH KALIMANTAN

Educational institutions have an essential role to play in dealing with border issues. Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Darul Furqon uses border issues to develop the governance of educational institutions. This research focuses on two things. First, what are the characteristics of border-based Islamic Elementary Education management at Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Darul Furqon? Second, how is the strength of the management in its participation in responding to border issues? Research with this qualitative method collects data through observation, interviews, and documentation. The analysis uses three stages: data reduction and presentation, and conclusion. This Madrasah has utilized school-based management to develop border-based Islamic Elementary Education Management. Among the characteristics of border issues concerning its management is branding as the Boundary School, the orientation of student recruitment by taking community groups with problems in border areas as its customer segments, and management of learning management based on border issues. The use of management like this gives strength to this Madrasah to manage aspects of the customer segment, value proposition, channel, key partnerships, key activities, and cost structure in the business management of educational institutions to deal with border issues. This Madrasah also utilizes management like this to develop inclusive Islamic religious education in the border context.

The architecture of partisan debates: The online controversy on the no-deal Brexit.

We propose a framework to analyse partisan debates that involves extracting, classifying and exploring the latent argumentation structure and dynamics of online societal controversies. In this paper, the focus is placed on causal arguments, and the proposed framework is applied to the Twitter debate on the consequences of a hard Brexit scenario. Regular expressions based on causative verbs, structural topic modelling, and dynamic time warping techniques were used to identify partisan faction arguments, as well as their relations, and to infer agenda-setting dynamics. The results highlight that the arguments employed by partisan factions are mostly constructed around constellations of effect-classes based on polarised verb groups. These constellations show that the no-deal debate hinges on structurally balanced building blocks. Brexiteers focus more on arguments related to greenfield trading opportunities and increased autonomy, whereas Remainers argue more about what a no-deal Brexit could destroy, focusing on hard border issues, social tensions in Ireland and Scotland and other economy- and healthcare-related problems. More notably, inferred debate leadership dynamics show that, despite their different usage of terms and arguments, the two factions' argumentation dynamics are strongly intertwined. Moreover, the identified periods in which agenda-setting roles change are linked to major events, such as extensions, elections and the Yellowhammer plan leak, and to new issues that emerged in relation to these events.

China-India Face-Offs: How Does Reputation Matter in Crisis Management?

ABSTRACT This article examines five direct border conflicts between China and India to study how well the reputational effects of their crisis management conformed to conventional deterrence expectations. This article finds that how these crises are settled suggests that instead of deterrence expectations of resolve-oriented behavior, China and India have engaged in reassurance-oriented behavior. Answering why reassurance has taken precedence over resolve even under crises conditions, it is argued that despite the two countries being at odds on the specific and highly salient border issue, they recognize the value of broader joint gains, which in turn is buttressed by a shared ‘post-colonial’ identity and common worldview on questions of global order.

Re-imagining the Komagata Maru incident: Canadian history through fiction and film

ABSTRACT The failed journey of the Komagata Maru in 1914 of British Indian subjects from Hong Kong to the Burrard Inlet in Vancouver, is a reminder of Canada’s deep-rooted racial prejudice and practice of exclusion, further reflected through its discriminatory policies and façade of multiculturalism. Canada’s strategic implementation of the Continuous Journey Act and its subsequent effect on the ship, turned out to be a nightmare for the aspiring South Asian immigrants to Canada as they were stranded onshore for two months. Renewed focus on discussion around borders, rights, and identities draws attention to the early nineteenth- and twentieth-century discourses that expose the complexities of colonial regimes and the crises that have followed. It is in this vein I propose a re-reading of the Komagata Maru incident, through its contemporary literary and artistic representations and raise questions of race, citizenship, ethnicity vis-à-vis issues of borders, empires, nations, belonging, and home.

LEADERSHIP STYLES OF XI JINPING AND NARENDRA MODI: IMPACT ON THE BORDER ISSUE

Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi are transformative leaders who aspire to leave their names in history. With a strong political portfolio and extensive growth in the economy, they are developing a confident and robust stance towards the role of their country in the global order. The paper aims to analyze the domestic and international strategies of Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi in order to explore the implications of their leadership on the border issue. The paper first explores the theoretical frameworks of leadership studies and their implications for security aspects. Then the contextual and individual characteristics of leaders are assessed. Further, the paper focuses on the foreign policy approaches of both leaders that impact the border issue and prospects for a border settlement. In the conclusion, the author summarizes the possible outcomes of the leaders’ policy on the development of the border issue.

CYBER WARFARE AS PART OF RUSSIA AND UKRAINE CONFLICT

Russia and Ukraine have had tense relations since 2014, with violence erupting as a result. Cyber-attacks have become an integral aspect of this conflict, in addition to the border issue and the separatist movement in Ukraine. Tensions between the two countries grew in 2021, and a significant cyber attack on the Ukrainian government website occurred in early 2022. Because the Ukrainian government claims that Russia was the brains behind the cyber assault, it has exacerbated the dispute between the two countries. Based on the timing of the wars and cyber attacks related to Ukraine, the goal of this study is to examine the relationship between cyber assaults and the political policies of the two countries toward the conflicts that occur. It also describes the cyberspace dilemmas related to finding evidence of the real actors of cyber attacks.

Early Survey on the Relocation of Capital City of Indonesia and its Impact towards East Malaysia Security

The issue of borders is a factor that can threaten the sovereignty of a country because it has an impact from traditional and non -traditional angles. This study is conducting to examine the impact of the relocation of the Indonesian capital on the security of East Malaysia. This is because the relocation plan involves a large and comprehensive development increase. The literature review of this study is divided into three, namely (1) The relocation of the Indonesian capital (Jakarta) to Kalimantan, (2) Security issues that exist between Malaysia-Indonesia due to the relocation of the Indonesian capital to the province of Kalimantan and (3) Security impact to Malaysia due to the relocation of the Indonesian capital to Kalimantan. The objectives of this study are to identify security threats that exist on the Sarawak-Kalimantan border, to study the impact of the Indonesian capital on national security in East Malaysia and to analyze the actions of the Malaysian government to improve security in East Malaysia. This study adopts a qualitative method in which part of the data is collected through secondary data obtained through a library study. These include scholarly books, journal articles, confidential reports released (public domain) as well as the security and defense policies of a government. While the primary data was obtained through face-to-face interviews with experts and officials directly involved in the topic of study from Malaysia and Indonesia. The conclusion of the survey is that there are traditional and non -traditional threats at the border. The relocation of the Indonesian capital has had a political, economic and security impact on East Malaysia. The Malaysian government is adding security personnel to be on alert along the border as well as establishing closer diplomatic relations with Indonesia.

Border Security Challenges: a Case Study of Kenya and Somalia Border Relations (1991-2017)

The porous border of Kenya/ Somalia has always been problematic to the Kenyan government, ever since the Somali government’s fall in 1991. This study was based along the Kenya- Somalia boundary in Mandera County. The study examined border security challenges between Kenya- Somalia from 1991-to 2017. One specific objective guided it: to discuss challenges to border security strategies along with Kenya- Somalia border. The study was guided by descriptive survey research design and experimental research designs. This research used several sampling strategies: convenience, systematic, snowball, random sampling, and purposive techniques. The researcher selected a sample size of 398 that comprised heads of families. Further, 85 critical informants of private and public responders were chosen from the two case studies. Primary information was gathered using FGDs, survey tools such as questionnaires and observations and interviews. On the other hand, secondary data was retrieved through relevant articles and publication content analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics proved vital in analyzing preliminary information, while content analysis was utilized when analyzing qualitative data. Tables and figures present the data analyzed. The study established that 86 % of the respondents stated that regional politics, power politics and geopolitical conflicts were significant impediments to border management strategies. It was concluded that geopolitical disputes were the main challenge encountered in border management strategies. The study recommends that Kenya partner with like-minded stronger countries in Africa's horn, affected by the Somali problem like Ethiopia, and develop a common approach to learning from them on dealing with the border issue.