Cross-border Interactions Research Articles

Динамика развития общественной дипломатии в качестве инструмента «мягкой силы» в современных международно-политических реалиях: кейс Республики Карелия

Introduction: the COVID-19 pandemic and the acute confrontation between Russia and Western countries jeopardized the implementation of a number of international projects in the early 2020s. Closed borders made it much more difficult for the academic and expert community to maintain personal and professional contacts. The opposing sides pursue a policy of “withdrawal culture”. This unfavorable international political environment stimulates the search for new formats of cooperation and rethinking of long-known channels of interaction. In the current foreign policy circumstances, the tools for open dialog and preserving the climate of trust between the regional communities of Russia and foreign countries are rising their importance: even though they turn out to be very limited, these were not completely closed, as it happened at the interstate level. Objectives: to identify the public diplomacy dynamics as an instrument of “soft power” in modern geopolitical conditions using the case of the Republic of Karelia (border region in the North-West of the Russian Federation). Methods: terminology analysis, document analysis and comparative method. Results: the experience of public diplomacy development in the Republic of Karelia, the challenges faced by the participants of international dialogue and the forms of further communication are presented. Conclusions: the depoliticized nature of subnational international interaction will allow the parties to use the potential of “soft power”, identifying the directions significant for the Russian Federation and the conditions for the progressive development of cross-border interactions with different states in the new international political reality.

Solid as a Rock: Media Portrayals of Cross-Border Activities

Much has been said and written about the importance of cross-border activities. With the process of opening up the borders, these cross-border activities became increasingly intense. Nevertheless, much less has been revealed on media portrayals of cross-border activities. The purpose of this article is to analyse, assess, and interpret regionally orientated contributions that deal with cross-border activities and are broadcasted within the national TV reporting in Czechia. While material or tangible aspects of cross-border activities have been traditionally examined thoroughly, the media reflection of those activities has not been captured in an adequate manner so far. The article deals with the issue from both quantitative and qualitative points of view. This complementary view is useful from the perspective of the interpretation of findings. Moreover, such an approach largely helps to fill in the existing research gaps. It has been found out that media portrayals of cross-border activities are inadequate from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives and barely reflect genuine processes related to cross-border interactions in real circumstances. Taking into account the general importance of cross-border activities and processes for developments of whole territories, less plastic media capturing of these activities and processes might seem surprising.

Impacts of Cross-Border Interaction from the Perspective of Cross-Border Cooperation Actors

Cross-border cooperation represents a "laboratory" of the international integration process, in which synergy is created between the diverse political, economic, cultural and social characteristics of the actors involved. The present paper examines perceptions of local cross-border cooperation actors in Slovak-Ukrainian borderlands. It is aimed 1) to identify their perceptions regarding the impact of more intensive cross-border interaction and expected impacts of the Association Agreement and 2) to verify the relationship between their views on the effects of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement implementation, as well as on deepening cross-border interaction and their tendency to perceive the EU, Ukraine or Slovakia as reliable partners. The empirical research and the statistical analysis were based on the approach proven within the EXLINEA research project. The results have revealed that the more intensive cross-border interaction has, as perceived by local actors on both sides of the border, a rather positive impact on borderlands. At the same time, perceptions regarding the reliability of Ukraine's partnership with Slovakia and the EU are seen as relatively significant correlates of attitudes of local cross-border cooperation actors. Namely, their attitudes to the effects of cross-border economic interaction, cross-border cooperation and the impacts of the Association Agreement implementation.

FROM THE PERIPHERY TO THE CENTRE: THE AMBIVALENCE OF THE EUROPEAN BORDERLAND

The article is devoted to the consideration of conceptual approaches to the analysis of the internal political spaces of Europe, which have acquired characteristic features of the border and peripheral systems. The reasons and conditions of the conceptual reinterpretation of the concepts of "periphery" and "center" under the conditions of variable border systems are traced using the example of the Western European and Eastern European borders. An analysis of the most pragmatic theories of border development applied to European border landscapes is offered. The main attention is paid to three models: 1) the Western European border landscape, which was formed between imperial centers due to the creation of a network socio-economic trade system, providing a spatial border with buffer political organizations, within which small, economically, and politically effective states of the offshore type function; 2) the Eastern European border landscape, which was formed within the borders of the Three Seas, between the centers of continental empires, which marginalized the border space, turning it into a competitive multicultural buffer zone; 3) models of the space of Europe within the European Union, which is formed as a network institutionalized socio-cultural system, where the process of abandoning universal territorial and political systems in favor of post-national ones, capable of taking into account the plurality of individual and collective identities, is gradually taking place. The focus is on the problem of the transformation of the peripheral spaces of the EU, which are interpreted within the framework of two approaches: 1) as an expansionist political strategy of "enlargement" of the Union, which is implemented due to the standardization of institutions and norms, and the integration of peripheral territorial-political and local actors takes place within "neighborhood policies"; 2) as a wide use of frontier discourse in relation to the project of expanding the political and geographical space of Europe. The intermediate border spaces are transformed into a system of cross-border interaction, which determines the movement of the borders of macro-regions.

Migrasi dalam perspektif semiotika etnodemografi dan gender: Kasus masyarakat di hulu Sembakung, Kalimantan Utara

State border areas are often considered rigid and isolated spaces, and this assumption is usually not in accordance with reality on the ground. Communities in border regions of Indonesia have kinship ties across countries, such as life across borders that occur in the upper Sembakung River. The river flows in the border area of North Kalimantan and upstream in Sabah, Malaysia. The problem occurs when to conduct social interaction, the population in the border area must conduct various negotiations on the rules of the spatial state. The natural morphology of the Sembakung River crossing connects the ethnic interactions of the population at the country's borderline, which is often assumed to threaten sovereignty. The concentration of state territory space, a legacy of colonial cartography, is not in line with the social boundaries of the population formed by the natural morphology of the Sembakung River channel, which provides space for residents to penetrate state boundaries. This paper explores cross-border interactions through the flow of the Sembakung River, which is strengthened by life cycle rites through the Mauss gift scheme, which is prone to creating marginalization of women. Cross-border social ties have penetrated rigid territorial boundaries. This situation resulted in the infiltration of economic commodities mobility intertwined with people's cultural activities in hulu Sembakung, a group of population with dual citizenship, and the practice of rites of exchange that are vulnerable to women's marginalization.

Development of concept and methods for identifying and analyzing sociocultural factors in the context of the digital transformation of the economy

To ensure effective interaction, including cross-border interaction, of business, the state and citizens, knowledge and compliance with only formal, documented rules are often not enough. Significant impact on the success of cooperation, especially cross-border, has the ability of counterparties to take into account the socio-cultural characteristics of the other side. Based on the fact that the digital economy is a system of economic, social and cultural relations based on the use of digital information and communication technologies, formalizing the components of this system and developing mechanisms for their assessment is an urgent task. The aim of our work is to develop a concept and methods for identifying and analyzing sociocultural factors in the context of the digital transformation of the economy. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the integrated use of methods of semantic analysis of texts, case analysis, conceptual modeling, big data analysis and artificial intelligence for a formal description and analysis of the essence of socio-cultural differences that are potentially significant for the implementation of cross-border economic interaction. The practical significance of the results of the work is related to the elimination of existing obstacles and limitations for the creation and development of cross-border businesses related to cultural differences of contractors.

Влияние фактора приграничного положения на экономические системы российских регионов.

Border territories were considered both as front lines and as a resource for economic development in different historical periods. The studied regions of the Northwestern Federal District adopt these roles too. The purpose of the research is to consider the transformations of the border strip, to assess the normative sources that contribute to or limit the development of border regional economic systems, to analyze economic parameters and identify the patterns of this development. The scientific novelty is associated with the development of a comprehensive methodology, including the economic and legal assessment of the influence of the border location factor on the development indicators of the territory. The application of this technique allows substantiating the assumption that the nature of functioning and economic parameters may be related to the legal aspects of regulating the border position of Russian regions to a greater or lesser extent. The authors come to the conclusion that in the current geopolitical environment it becomes obvious that the legal and economic conditions will be significantly transformed. The degree of involvement in cross-border interactions for some sections of the borders will decrease, and vice versa new areas of international economic activity will appear, with corresponding structural shifts, which will become a vector for continuing the research. The study substantiates that the processes of economic interactions must be assessed both in economic and legal dimensions. It is shown that the border location factor has an ambiguous and multidirectional influence. At the same time, the impact of the factor is transformed along with the geopolitical, economic and legal environment. Legal prerequisites for different territories are formed individually, manually and are associated with specific situations and the nature of international interactions. A significant part of the restrictions on doing business in the border areas, which were considered in the article, is related to the peculiarities of their legal regime. Consequently, the factor of the border position from the point of view of economic and legal regulation can intensify both risks and opportunities for development.

The effect of COVID-19 on cross-border mobilities of people and functional border regions: the Nordic case study from Twitter data

ABSTRACT Mobility is a global megatrend in our contemporary world as people are constantly crossing nation-state borders for migration, tourism, work and due to mobile transnational lives. Cross-border practices contribute to (re)produce functional border regions between different countries. The current amount of information on the geographies of cross-border mobilities of people, the creation of functional cross-border regions and how these regions change over time is inadequate. As transnational phenomena are fragile to global disruptions and prone to ‘rebordering’ in times of emergency, we lack knowledge of how the COVID-19 crisis affected border practices and functioning regions. We consider mobility to be a tool for understanding society and used big data to examine cross-border mobilities between the five Nordic countries: when and where borders were crossed, how mobilities captured functional border regions, and evaluated the influence of COVID-19 on mobilities and functional border regions from a spatio-temporal perspective. The feasibility of the proposed methodology for monitoring cross-border mobilities and border regions to improve planning and development of border regions and decision-making in future crises is discussed. We studied a 4-year Twitter dataset, including the first year of the pandemic until February 2021. We found that overall cross-border mobility decreased by 68% due to the pandemic, yet with geographical and temporal variations. We showed how the influence of the pandemic on the spatial extent of functional border regions varies for a range of reasons for cross-border mobility. We discuss the feasibility of the proposed approach for monitoring cross-border interactions as the proof-of-concept for capturing functional border regions to improve planning and development of border regions and decision-making in future crises. Finally, we highlight future avenues in enhancing our proposed methodology to improve information on cross-border mobilities derived from social media data such as Twitter.

Territorial Politics in Cross-Border Local Development Strategies in the Krayan – Ba’Kelalan Region at the Indonesia – Malaysia Border

ABSTRACT Dynamics of uncertainty and complexity shape cross-border local development. The ethnic proximity of communities in the highlands of Kalimantan creates fluid and cross-border cultural empathy in socio-cultural and economic interactions without a formal framework of cross-border cooperation. Indonesian border development policies have shifted socio-cultural relations, triggering socio-economic inequalities and conflicts of interest that impact cross-border activities. This study uses Constructivist Grounded Theory to analyze how these issues play out in the Indonesian-Malaysian border region. The study shows the management of socio-cultural relationships and networks, capital accumulation, and its role in accommodating local interests. In the case study, these efforts lead to sustainable regional development by promoting economic equality and ensuring cross-border interactions and local sovereignty in a region with different jurisdictions and limited resources and capacities. Thus, this study provides empirical evidence of how local development strategies transform into territorial politics in response to the dynamics of cross-border issues.

The “Five-Year Plan” of Spatial Development and Regional Policy of Russia: Running in Place or Readiness for a Sprint?

This article considers trends in the field of spatial development and regional policy of the Russian Federation in the last five years against the backdrop of global trends, external challenges, and threats. The features of the so-called “eastern vector” of the spatial development of Russia as a new element of the country’s spatial policy and as an important direction of its cross-border interactions have been revealed. It has been shown that, so far, its implementation is dominated by state support for Far Eastern investment projects and priority development areas, while Siberia and its regions are practically excluded from this strategic initiative. Trends in the field of national, interregional, and regional strategizing have been analyzed (based on the example of the Strategy for the Spatial Development of the Russian Federation, the Strategy for the Socioeconomic Development of the Angara-Yenisey Macroregion, strategies and models of development and management implemented in the Novosibirsk and Kemerovo oblasts). Based on the analysis of the statements of the highest officials of the state, a synopsis of the latest strategic initiatives in the field of state management of spatial development processes has been formulated. The conclusion has been substantiated that even in the extremely difficult conditions of Russia’s development observed in the last five years, new strategic initiatives gradually began to appear, and new trends were formed. On the one hand, they provided grounds for cautious optimism regarding the modernization of regional policy and the spatial development of the country. On the other hand, under geopolitical and economic conditions that have taken shape since the spring of 2022, these trends should be reassessed in the light of new realities.

Mapmaking and Sovereignty Building: Francisco Requena and the Late Eighteenth-Century Boundary Demarcation Commissions

Abstract After signing the 1777 Treaty of San Ildefonso, Spain and Portugal sent joint expeditions to demarcate their South American borders, as they had done a quarter century earlier. Focusing on the activities of Spanish commissioner Francisco Requena in western Amazonia in the 1780s and 1790s, this article shows that such efforts were not limited to confirming in loco the lines drawn in European courts. I demonstrate how Indigenous populations played on Iberian rivalries to maintain their autonomy and negotiate their resettlement. The very interactions between commissioners and Indigenous peoples intensified the porosity of border spaces. Because commissioners believed that sovereignty was defined through monarchical loyalty rather than simply lines on a map, they contributed to the movement of people and goods across the dividing line that they intended to create, making the border even more permeable to Indigenous claims to territoriality and cross-border interactions.

Penegakan Hukum Oleh Pos Lintas Batas Bagi Para Pelintas di Wilayah Perbatasan Papua dan Papua New Guinea

Introduction: The urgency to organize the border between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea and border crossers is based on historical reasons that are more complex than the arrangement of Indonesia's borders with other countries.Purposes of the Research: To overcome these problems, the author proposes the idea of an integrated border management.Methods of the Research: This research uses sociological juridical method with the research location in Jayapura City.Results of the Research: The results of the study show that the border governance policies tend to ignore the cultural identity variable, which then encourages the use of cultural identity to challenge the state's version of dominant conceptions and policies in border governance. This is indicated by the phenomenon of "rat trails" and other cross-border interaction networks that are illegal by the state. Cultural approach in border governance policy is the principle that animates security policy, political policy, and economic policy in border governance. The practical consequence of this study is that border governance must move away from the domination of the economic security approach to an integrated approach.

Contested Spatialities of Digital Sovereignty

ABSTRACT “Digital sovereignty” has become a buzzword in digital policies. Contrary to the imaginary of digital transformation as preceding an era of limitless global networking in the 1990s, approaches to state regulation and delimitation of data flows as well as programmes for national digital infrastructures are justified with calls for digital sovereignty across very different contexts. This forum brings together contributions from political geography, law, computer science, and ethics that compare and analyse discourses and practices of digital sovereignty. The case studies on Russia and the EU reveal parallels as well as fundamental differences in the conception and implementation of digital sovereignty. Essays on the challenges posed by new forms of cross-border interaction (such as cloud computing) and new actors (such as digital platforms) illustrate that the traditional coupling of concepts of sovereignty, territoriality and the state, of jurisdiction and borders, must be rethought. The essays in this forum thus make it clear that the digital transformation is not simply a socio-technical modernisation process. It is rather shaped in specific ways and should be understood and analysed as (geo)-political discourses and practices. The forum contributes to the development of a political digital geography that analyses how the digital transformation is contested and produced in specific ways and unearths the politics and spatialities conceived and produced in these discourses and practices.

РOTENTIAL OF CROSS-BORDER INTERACTION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INLAND WATER TRANSPORT

Using the example of the regional market of inland water transport services for the transportation of goods, the article substantiates the need for fundamentally new forms of competition, and first of all, on the basis of using the potential of regionalization of the economy, including cross-border interaction.

Eurasian integration and the interstate conflict potential of the countries of the Central Asian region

The article considers external security challenges in the Central Asian region (CAR), the causes of interstate instability and the emergence of regional conflicts. This study was conducted within the framework of the theory of conflict. The main conflict-causing foreign policy factors in the CAR are: the presence of hotbeds of military conflicts near the countries of the region; the threat of the spread of instability in the countries of the region and the likelihood of armed provocations; the activities of international terrorist and radical organizations and groups, the strengthening of the positions of religious extremism in neighboring countries near the borders of the CAR countries; the strengthening of China's economic role and its penetration into the CAR, the growing dependence of the countries of the region on the PRC; the penetration of extra-regional, Western actors into the CAR; conflicting interethnic and interstate contradictions and territorial-border disputes. The problems of cross-border interaction and the general use of water and energy resources in the CAR are considered. The reasons for the emergence of interstate conflict situations are indicated. These are the shortage of water and energy resources; territorial and border disputes with neighbors and the claims of some states to regional leadership; unresolved territorial claims, accumulated territorial disputes between the CAR states with insufficient validity of borders. Various approaches to solving the problem of water scarcity in the CAR are analyzed. Conclusions and forecasts of developments regarding the development of Eurasian integration and ensuring Russia's national interests in the CAR are given. It is concluded that the current and prospective situation in the CAR is based on integration and conflict scenarios. These two categories make up a dialectical pair, with the help of which it is possible to understand and describe the processes in the CAR, and throughout the post-Soviet space. Probabilistic scenarios of the development of integration processes in the Central Asian countries for the medium and long term are proposed.

Globalisasi Mengubah Konsep Negara, Teritori, Kedaulatan : Integrasi ALBA sebagai Sovereignty Counter-Balance

Globalization as a dynamic process has contributed to change and downgrade the power of. Most state experience various development regarding cross-border interaction, such as in economy, politics, and culture. Although the Westphalia Treaty of 1648 was a turning point where loyalty of people must be given to the state, yet it is shown that the power of state does no longer exist as the only political power. Venezuela’s Populist economic policies under Nicolas Maduro considered as failed-state management which lead the country reaching equitable welfare. Regarding Venezuela from the start in the ALBA (the Bolivarian Alliance for the peoples of our America), it has been able to help a little compilation of this country to improve the crisis, asking that the ALBA here try to be seen as " Sovereignty Counter-Balance". Domestic problems that continue to make the Venezuelan exodus abroad. This national crisis and massive migration have had international implications. And the countries that have helped overcome this are Ecuador and Colombia. This paper examines the interrelationship between the causes of the Venezuelan crisis and its consequences, as well as the reactions of other countries. In this paper the author analyzes and explains the link between the Venezuelan crisis and its effects, as well as the reactions, attitudes and role of neighboring countries in this case Ecuador and Colombia. The purpose of this study was to find out how ALBA was able to maintain the harmony and position of domestic interdependence by not eliminating the existence and authority of member states. This writing uses qualitative descriptive methods with data collection using literature studies. After reviewing, analyzing some literature concluded that ALBA can be a catalyst for Latin America to strengthen relations and unite views in the face of such dynamic global problems.

Estimating Risk of Introduction of Ebola Virus Disease from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Tanzania: A Qualitative Assessment.

Between April 2018 and November 2020, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) experienced its 11th Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak. Tanzania's cross-border interactions with DRC through regular visitors, traders, and refugees are of concern, given the potential for further spread to neighboring countries. This study aimed to estimate the risk of introducing EVD to Tanzania from DRC. National data for flights, boats, and car transport schedules from DRC to Tanzania covering the period of May 2018 to June 2019 were analyzed to describe population movement via land, port, and air travel and coupled with available surveillance data to model the risk of EVD entry. The land border crossing was considered the most frequently used means of travel and the most likely pathway of introducing EVD from DRC to Tanzania. High probabilities of introducing EVD from DRC to Tanzania through the assessed pathways were associated with the viability of the pathogen and low detection capacity at the ports of entry. This study provides important information regarding the elements contributing to the risk associated with the introduction of EBV in Tanzania. It also indicates that infected humans arriving via land are the most likely pathway of EBV entry, and therefore, mitigation strategies including land border surveillance should be strengthened.

Assimilation through transnationalism: second-generation refugees and Vietnamese transnational organizing

ABSTRACT Transnational organizations are primarily studied from the perspective of first-generation migrants and how cross-border interactions shape their identities. This study focusses on transnational activism among the second-generation, the children of refugees, asking how refugee status affects second-generation transnationalism. By analysing the case study of Vietnamese refugees in the United States, the largest refugee re-settlement effort in American history, the article analyses an originally curated database of transnational organizations (n = 632), as well as a survey of 80 organizational leaders. Findings show that participation in transnational organizations offers new ways of understanding one’s identity and social mobility in the United States and in Vietnam. This transnational point of reference includes transnational labour market opportunities and the transforming of identities from learning about silenced histories in refugee families. Transnational activism creates an alternative reference category for integration outside the common reference groups including intergenerational mobility, native co-ethnics, and the general US population.

Quantitative Measurement of Cross-Border Interactions (Example of Africa)

Cross-border cooperation is one of the advantages of the EU that presented conditions for economic growth of all Member States when the organization was formed. The aim of the work was to look for quantitative indicators and data processing methods that would characterize cross-border interactions, while looking for and marking out high-integration regions. The authors’ previous studies (Paiders, Paiders, 2010) were aimed at conducting measurements of cross-border interactions in the cluster of European states. In this work, the authors use the already-familiar methodology and indicators in order to analyze the cross-border interactions of African states. The layout of highly integrated borders allowed marking out four groups of African states with the greatest economic integration with neighboring states.

Determinants of Sustainable Cross-Border Cooperation: A Structural Model for the Hungarian Context Using the PLS-SEM Methodology

The importance of this research stems from the need to ensure the sustainability of cross-border cooperation through a better understanding of its determinants and causal relationships. While having common features and patterns, cross-border cooperation is always expressed through the relations of specific countries and peoples. Therefore, based upon the PLS-SEM methodology, the authors consider the fundamental factors influencing the external cooperation of Hungary’s transboundary regions. The advantage of the PLS-SEM method is that it enables researchers to simultaneously identify and approximate hidden connections between input data and to construct a regression model describing the relationship between input data. Despite widespread application in economic studies, the authors have not found the use of PLS-SEM for studying cross-border cooperation issues in the current scientific literature. The authors have built a model to assess the hidden factors of cross-border cooperation and to identify the indirect influence of certain factors. The novelty of the research is to identify the determinants of sustainable cross-border cooperation and the relationship between them in a multi-level system of cross-border interaction between businesses, people, and the State. In the Hungarian context, transport infrastructure and business travel are shown to have a direct positive impact on cross-border cooperation. For the first time, tourism and socio-economic conditions have been shown to have powerful but indirect impacts. This work could be the beginning of gathering new evidence on the determinants and causation of cross-border cooperation in the context of other countries. An important finding of the study is the growing importance of indicators of the new, post-industrial economy. As for recommendations, the authors focus on state, regional, and municipal support measures, awareness of the possibilities of cross-border cooperation, the need to develop e-commerce, and alternative energy as a modern basis for converting Hungary’s cross-border position into a competitive advantage.