ABSTRACT
Introduction $VLJQL¿FDQWVRFLDOH[SHULHQFHRIWKHSUHVHQWGD\LVWKHLQFUHDVLQJSHUPHDELOLW\RI the internal borders of the European Union, a result of the elimination of the physical EDUULHUVWRERUGHUFURVVLQJDOORZLQJIUHHGRPRIWUDYHO,WLVGL൶FXOWWRRYHUVWDWHWKH importance of this change for those who, years or decades ago, were not permitted to cross the border, and also for those who had to wait for hours, often in almost intolerable conditions, at border crossing stations and were only able to continue their travels after humiliating bureaucratic procedures. In most cases the partial and then the complete opening of the borders has been welcomed with enthusiasm, and the ever greater permeability of the borders serves the integration of the economic and political macro-systems of nation states, leading to the emergence of an HQODUJLQJ VXSUDQDWLRQDO HFRQRPLF DQG SROLWLFDO VSDFH LQ ZKLFK WKH IUHH ÀRZ RI persons, labour, goods and capital is secured. In this system border regions occupy DXQLTXHSODFHDQGLWFDQEHDUJXHGSOD\DXQLTXHUROH:LOOWKLVFURVVERUGHUÀRZ pass them by, will they remain struggling peripheries of the nation states, or can WKH\XVHWKHRSSRUWXQLWLHVR൵HUHGE\WKLVQHZVLWXDWLRQ",VVSDFHRSHQLQJXSIRU them too? And what role do they play in the process of opening up?
