Suchergebnisse

"The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union in 2012 was a reminder of the role of European integration in peacebuilding after the Second World War. For the 'Founding Fathers' of the European integration project, cross-border-cooperation was an integral element in building Europe's peace. Yet, in a Western Europe largely at peace for generations, peacebuilding as a relevant objective for European integration may be questioned. Moreover, the contribution of cross-border cooperation to conflict amelioration may be challenged on the grounds of its overwhelming economic focus. However, enlargement into Central Eastern Europe highlights once again the necessity of a peacebuilding objective for the European Union because of the multitude of real and potential conflicts encompassed within its expanded policy orbit. Drawing on evidence from selected 'borderscapes', this study examines 25 years of European Union cross-border cooperation as conflict amelioration and assesses its prospects in a political climate that emphasises borders as security barriers"--

Fredsopbygning i europæiske grænselande kræver kontakt, det kræver kommunikation, og det kræver samarbejde på tværs af statsgrænser og på tværs af etniske og nationale skel. Respekt for kulturelle forskelle er det ledende princip for dette projekt, hvor klager over naboen bliver adresseret, og stereotyper udfordret med det formål at tackle angst og mistro. Ikke desto mindre har EU's økonomiske fokus krydret med det 21. århundredes fokus på "sikkerhed" betydet, at det grænseoverskridende samarbejde forstået som fredsopbygning er et tilsyneladende forladt håb bag "Europas døre". Schengens grænseregime og den europæiske naboskabspolitik er tvillingedynamikker, som efter sigende sikrer EU's "eksterne fronter" mod (forestillingen om) en række fjender på flere fronter – internationale terrorister, omstridte migranter og transnationale gangstere – og tilsvarende underminerer dette sikkerhedsregime "den bløde grænse-tilgang" til fredsopbygning på tværs af netop disse fronter. I konteksten af grænsers genkomst kunne den europæiske integration meget vel ændre sig fra mellemstatslig og grænseoverskridende fredsopbygning til, at der igen appelleres til Europas arv af grænsekonflikter og tvangsforanstaltninger på bekostning af freden.

The Brexit campaign to withdraw the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) was driven primarily by opposition to immigration and the freedom of movement of EU workers to Britain. Consequently, a central focus of Brexit was the perceived need for bordering, that is, the strengthening of Britain's borders as security barriers to prevent the movement of these unwanted outsiders to Britain. Such bordering has the potential to turn the tide against decades of debordering on the island of Ireland that was delivered by Europeanisation, the North South provisions of the Good Friday Agreement, and a wealth of cross-border cooperation initiatives. From an open Irish border vantage point this paper explores three Brexit bordering options: bordering the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; bordering Britain; and bordering the isles of Britain and Ireland. The argument is that the least costly one is to confine Brexit bordering to the island of Great Britain.

The Irish border (between Northern Ireland – the 'North' and the Republic of Ireland – the 'South') has been described as a 'natural' cultural divide between the island's two dominant indigenous ethno-national communities. However, an examination of key resources of ethno-national group culture – religion, sport and language – provides evidence to challenge this representation. Moreover, in the post-1994 period of conflict transformation, evidence is also presented to support the proposition that the Irish border region has developed into a cultural space in which Irish nationalist and Ulster unionist ethno-national communities can explore cultural differences and commonalities through cross-border, cross-community contact and communication in small group encounters. This space underpins the reconfiguration of the border from barrier to political bridge between North and South. European Union (EU) Peace programmes for Ireland, beginning in 1995, provided the support for a cross-border approach to escaping the cage of ethno-national conflict in Northern Ireland. However, post-2004 EU enlargement signalled the beginning of the end for EU Peace funding, and severe economic recession has undermined the expectation of British–Irish intergovernmental intervention to support cross-border partnerships and their work. Therefore, the outlook for the sustainability of this cross-border cultural space is gloomy, with potentially deleterious consequences for the continued reconfiguration of the border from barrier to bridge.