ABSTRACT

The prediction that processes of globalization would inexorably lead to the diminished significance of international borders now seems decidedly misplaced. Border scholars grapple with very different bodies of material, which is in part a function of disparate disciplinary starting points. One advantage that border scholars can exploit is that they are able to mine perspectives from either side of the line. Archives tend to offer a dual perspective on the same set of issues, but this is no less true of oral informants who interpret reality in the light of circumstances on their own side of a given boundary line. For the purposes of this discussion, this chapter focuses on three dimensions – namely, temporality, space, and scale – and the disciplines to which they are generally related. After 1945, there was a proliferation of international organizations pushing for the introduction of common norms and standards governing the global community.