Cold War Europe Beyond Borders. A Transnational History of Cross-Border Practices in the Alps-Adriatic area from World War II to the present.

Descrizione del progetto

I confini della guerra fredda nella regione alpino-adriatica

Il progetto OPEN BORDERS, finanziato dall’UE, si propone di ripensare la storia della guerra fredda in Europa esaminando lo sviluppo della cooperazione transnazionale transfrontaliera nella regione alpino-adriatica dalla fine della seconda guerra mondiale ai giorni nostri. Concentrandosi su una regione storica oggi condivisa da Austria, Croazia, Italia e Slovenia, il progetto sfiderà una visione dicotomica di due Europa separate, «Est» e «Ovest», da una nuova prospettiva transfrontaliera. Inoltre, riconsiderando il passato europeo da un punto di vista transnazionale, il progetto dimostrerà l’interazione tra politiche dall’alto verso il basso e iniziative dal basso verso l’alto, offrendo una piattaforma per discussioni contemporanee su sovranità, territorialità e appartenenza.

Obiettivo

"This project aims to rethink the history of Cold War Europe by examining the development of transnational cross-border cooperation from the end of World War II to the present. Overcoming traditional narratives of a clear-cut European separation symbolised by the Berlin Wall, a decentralised analysis of recent European history will show us that the question of a divided continent should be reframed. The final objective is to challenge a dichotomous vision of two separate Europes, “East” and “West”, from a new, border perspective. To this end, a highly qualified team of senior and junior scholars under my guidance will focus on the Alps-Adriatic region, a historical area that is now shared by Austria, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. This case involves a relatively narrow geographical area but an unusually broad typological range of subjects. During the Cold War it was divided among socialist but non-aligned Yugoslavia, capitalist but neutral Austria, and NATO and EEC member Italy. Its development from the ""southern end"" of the Iron Curtain in 1946 to the ""most open border"" during the Cold War and a precursor to present-day Schengen Europe, represents a paradigmatic case to study an alternative attitude towards borders, frontiers and boundaries. Drawing on Cold War and borderland studies, social history and the history of European integration, which up till now have not found common ground, our innovative conceptual elaboration will demonstrate the interplay between top-down politics and bottom-up initiatives, thus offering a new, and more nuanced history of Cold War Europe from the border perspective. Reconsidering the European past from this transnational angle, both in terms of geographic and methodological perspectives, will allow us to rediscover the human face of European integration and will offer us a new platform for contemporary discussions on sovereignty, territoriality and belonging and on the future role of borders in Europe and in the world."