ABSTRACT
In this chapter we examine how people on a local level perceive and respond to geopolitical changes on the national and global level. In this way we can show region-specific responses to global challenges and understand the forces and values that support transborder cooperation. We can also reveal the discourses that lead to continuing separation. The case study examines the situation at the AustroHungarian border, where changes in the 20th century clearly show that borders are not ontologically pre-given but rather are socially and politically constructed in order to protect what is inside and to exclude what is outside. Borders also change: they change their place and they change their significance. Such big changes have been taking place in the Austro-Hungarian border region in the recent decades. In this chapter we will try to show how the border is being constructed by political actors on the international, national and regional levels, emphasizing changes in the location of the border and the most important ruptures that have occurred in regard to the meaning of the border, including reasons and consequences.
