ABSTRACT

Dozens of thousands of kilometers of new state boundaries have emerged as a result of the disintegration of the USSR. The adaptation of the population and the economy to the new boundaries is a long process, which is not over yet. Since the 1990s, and especially in the last decade, Russian scholars published the first theoretical works and a number of detailed case studies on most sections of Russian boundaries. A special attention was paid to the theory of cross-border natural and socio-economic systems as the basis of conflicts and cooperation, especially in the eastern part of Russia. A relatively great number of scholars – mainly political scientists but also geographers – studied different sections of the new boundaries between Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and EU countries, especially since the EU enlargement in 2004. These studies were often carried out in cooperation with European experts and supported by different international foundations. Geographers and historians showed the origin of different boundaries, their role in state-and ethnic building and considered the role of political discourse in cross-border cooperation (CBC). Nevertheless, many parts of the new post-Soviet borderland are still to be carefully described, analyzed and mapped.