ABSTRACT
Borders became crucial in understanding cultural transactions and change as well as the construction of national, regional, or ethnic identities. The 1990s have brought about a new awareness of borders in Europe. All member states of the European Union or candidates aspiring to membership now share the experience of a gradual abolition of the Union’s internal borders, an experience that has been massively reinforced by the introduction of the common European currency, the Euro. The changed perceptions and new awareness of borders has spilled over into the world of historiography. Borders are also a form of discourse used to legitimize mechanisms of social, cultural, or economic inclusion and exclusion. One of the weak points of Andrea Komlosy’s work is the almost exclusive focus on Austria and Bohemia, virtually ignoring all other parts of the Habsburg Empire. One wonders whether the territories of Austria and Bohemia really constitute a viable base of research.
