Project description
New insights on the political causes and effects of border design
Global crises, geopolitical shifts and neighbourhood threats are just three of many outside challenges and events that have pushed the external borders of the EU into the light. Even though European integration is shaped considerably by outside challenges, integration theories have largely ignored external boundary configurations. The ERC-funded EUROBORD project will develop a bordering theory of integration to explain how boundary configurations affect gaps and transactions at the EU’s borders. It will explore how developments at the external boundaries influence the performance and politics of member states and how the politicisation and negotiation of boundary shape the trajectory of European integration. The findings of this research will boost our understanding of European integration and border design.
Objective
Integration crises and geopolitical shifts have put the borders of the European Union (EU) in the focus of attention and contestation. Current developments highlight how strongly European integration is affected by outside events and cross-border transactions. Yet theories of European integration focus almost exclusively on the internal boundaries between the member states. EUROBORD therefore develops and tests a novel ‘bordering theory’ aiming to explain how external boundary developments affect the trajectory of integration.
The bordering theory proposes an account of how ‘bordering’ – the making and configuration of the EU’s boundaries – affects ‘ordering’: the structure of politics and institutions in the EU. Specifically, it analyses how ‘debordering’ (the expansion, opening and incongruence of the EU’s boundaries) in the post-Cold War period has generated integration problems and political conflicts, which have triggered a process of ‘rebordering’ (retrenchment or closure) in turn. EUROBORD examines the conditions and mechanisms that lead to alternative configurations of the EU’s boundaries.
EUROBORD introduces innovative conceptual frameworks, automated data collection techniques and new datasets to map the changing configuration of EU borders and study their effects on (i) economic, cultural, political and military transactions across these boundaries, (ii) member state political performance, (iii) European party positions and conflict, and (iv) boundary policies and the trajectory of European integration. This comprehensive data allows EUROBORD to conduct the first systematic empirical study of the effects of external bordering in European integration, using a mix of panel analyses and case studies. EUROBORD will thereby generate a more complete and adequate understanding of the dynamics of European integration and provide insights on the political causes and effects of border design.
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantHost institution
8092 Zuerich
Switzerland