Der Schwerpunkt meiner Dissertation liegt auf der Analyse der Art und Weise, wie das Mittelmeer als Grenzraum in fünf literarischen Werken, die von 2005 bis heute erschienen sind, dargestellt und wiedergegeben wird. Indem ich das Mittelmeer sowohl als Gegenstand der ästhetischen Darstellung behandle, analysiere ich diese Werke, um die Symbolik der maritimen Grenzen zu untersuchen. Auf diese Weise versuche ich, ein Paradigma für das Verständnis der Mittelmeer-Grenze als dynamisches, vielschichtiges, allgegenwärtiges, (un)sichtbares und performatives Konstrukt zu entwickeln. Der Korpus der Analyse umfasst literarische Werke, die im Mittelmeerraum veröffentlicht wurden, und sich mit dem Thema der clandestine migration, der Transmigration und der Abwanderung befasst. Die fünf Grenzromane umfassen verschiedene Genres, darunter die bio-fiktionale Erzählung von Catozzella Non dirmi che hai paura (2014) [Sag nicht, dass du Angst hast (2016)], die spekulativ Fiktion von Charfi Le Baiser de Lampedusa (2011), die composite novel von Lalami Hope and other dangerous pursuits (2005) [Hoffnung und andere gefährliche Bestrebungen], der Kriminalroman von Pajares Aguas de venganza (2016) [Gewässer der Rache] und der realistische, teilweise volksmärchenhafte Roman, von Khaal African Titanics (2008, Englische Übersetzung. 2014), die zur Inszenierung kritischer Untersuchungen über die maritime Grenze werden. Die Dissertation schlägt eine geo-literarische Lesart der Grenzliteratur vor, die sich aus einem breiten Korpus theoretischer Schriften über Grenzen aus den Sozial und Geisteswissenschaften – Kultur und Literaturwissenschaften – herausarbeitet. Das Projekt richtet sich darauf aus, diese beiden Disziplinen miteinander ins Gespräch zu bringen, indem der soziokulturelle, literarische und politische Beitrag der Grenzliteratur berücksichtigt wird. In diesem Sinne ist meine Dissertation ein Beitrag zu Border Studies, Border Aesthetics und Mediterranean Studies. / The primary focus of my dissertation is the analysis of the ways in which the Mediterranean Sea is rendered and modeled as a border space in five border literary works published from 2005 to the present. Treating the Mediterranean Sea as both the topic of literary analysis and the element of aesthetic representation, I investigate these works to examine the imageries of the maritime border as they transpire in literature. In so doing, I am seeking to provide a paradigm for comprehending the Mediterranean border as a dynamic, multi-scaled, ubiquitous, (in)visible and performative construct. The corpus of analysis comprises of literary works published in different languages and countries, notably from around the Mediterranean Sea, that address the theme of clandestine migration, transmigration, relocation and the social and cultural challenges they bring forth. The five border novels span genres, including bio-fictional narrative, Catozzella's Non dirmi che hai paura (2014) [Don't tell me you are afraid (2016)], speculative fiction, Charfi's Le Baiser de Lampedusa (2011), composite novel, Lalami's Hope and other dangerous pursuits (2005), detective fiction, Pajares' Aguas de venganza (2016) [Waters of revenge] and realist one interlaid with folktales, Khaal's African Titanics (2008 English transl. 2014), becoming the staging of critical investigations about the maritime border. The dissertation proposes a geo-literary reading of border fiction, working its way out from a large body of theoretical writing on borders born of the social sciences and the humanities — cultural studies and literary criticism. The project aims to put these two larger disciplines into conversation with one another by taking into consideration the socio-cultural, literary and political contribution of border fiction. In this line, my dissertation is a contribution to Border Studies, Border Aesthetics, and Mediterranean Studies.

Within interstate militarized disputes, states use different kinds of influence strategies, like bullying, reciprocating, and trial-and-error. My dissertation examines state influence strategies within border disputes. This context serves as a hard test which could testify if state behaviors in world politics are mainly driven by the salience of contested issues. Or other factors, like leader militarized backgrounds (e.g., participating in rebellions or military service), may also at work. On the other hand, focusing on state influence strategies could be a promising direction to investigate the dynamics of border disputes, like border crisis outcomes. My dissertation contains three chapters. The first chapter explores the rationales behind state choices of influence strategies in border crises by focusing on leaders and their militarized experiences. The second chapter focuses on the influence strategy's short-term effect by examining how do hey influence border crisis outcomes? The third chapter examines the influence strategy's long-term impact by investigating how do they affect the durability of border claims? My dissertation has some important findings. First, leader militarized backgrounds influence state choices of influence strategies. Second, bullying strategies create escalations, which make border crises more likely to end in stalemate or decisive outcomes. By contrast, both reciprocating and trial-and-error ease the tension and make border crises more likely to end in compromises. Third, in the long term, the bullying strategies enable states to learn the costs of territorial fights, who then are willing to drop territorial claims. Neither reciprocating or trial-and-error strategies has this effect.

The border between Russia and Estonia has undergone significant changes in the past two and a half decades from a border between two Soviet republics to an international border and external EU border. In the public discourse and the scholarly literature, this border has been characterised as a battlefield shaped by divergent geopolitical visions and evaluations of the shared past. While Estonia has sought to distance itself from Russia and condemns the Soviet past as an occupation, Russia derives pride from its historical role in liberating Europe in World War II and continues to hold on to positive memories of the Soviet past and its role in the Baltic states. The thesis looks at how these official narratives have been negotiated locally in the once united border towns of Narva and Ivangorod in the Russian-Estonian borderland. Based on an extended fieldwork stay and the analysis 58 life-story interviews with people living on both sides of the border, it examines how people living in the borderland position themselves in the context of shifting narrative and structural frameworks. How do they re-evaluate the relations to the other side and reconsider their memories of the shared past? In examining these questions, the thesis seeks to make two general contributions to existing literature: it brings together the fields of border studies and memory studies to explore the reconfiguration of both temporal and spatial orderings in the making of a border. Secondly, it outlines a model for studying border change that focuses on the interrelations between the vernacular and the official level. The first part of the thesis looks at the politics of temporal orderings in the borderland and explores how people belonging to different ethnic groups and generations remember the past in the context of changing borders. It shows how people in part reproduce the polarised narratives mobilised at the official level but also how local experiences and generational change lead to a diversification of temporal orderings. The second part of the thesis explores the politics of spatial orderings in post-socialist memories. It looks at how by remembering the past people both reproduce and undermine borders; it demonstrates that it is not simply the memories of a shared past but also new inequalities following the establishment of the border that shape the ways in which people relate to their cross-border neighbours. Overall, the thesis provides a complex and differentiated account of border change in which different temporalities and spatialities at the vernacular and official levels can interact, interrelate and stand in opposition to each other. It shows that although people living in the borderland experience constraints and even powerlessness in the face of changes in the border, they have an active role in negotiating the changes and develop multiple responses to official narratives. It demonstrates how by appropriating official narratives and relating them to their own purposes, people articulate local concerns and make claims for belonging, recognition and state care in the face of the changes.

For the past 35 years, borderland industry has opened employment opportunities for women in the community of Nogales, Arizona. However, the expansion of free trade with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has aggravated economic instability by promoting the flexible use of labor, a practice that women have increasingly accommodated. Case studies of women engaged in the retail and maquiladora industries illustrate the interplay between flexible employment, reproduction, and education. These cases suggest that a strong connection between flexible employment and reproduction is sustained by ideologies that see these as mutually complimentary. At the same time, the connections between education and employment and reproduction activities are notably absent or weak. We argue that investing in the education of women, which could lead to more predictable employment, is in this way subverted by regional economic instability. The alienation of education from the other two realms of women’s activities works to the advantage of flexible employment practices and advances the underdevelopment of human capital on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The National Border Patrol Museum (NBPM) in El Paso, Texas presents a view of the history, culture and life along the U.S.-Mexico border that no other museum in the world can offer. Moreover, it provides an opportunity to study and understand people and life in the border through the different forms in which they are representing themselves and how others view them as well. Mean Green: A Visual Cultural Analysis of the National Border Patrol Museum is a visual cultural analysis of the museum that deploys theoretical approaches in the disciplines of visual and cultural studies, Border Studies, Ethnic Studies, discourse analysis, museology, and spatial theory. The objectives of this dissertation are: 1) to study the varied representations, i.e., the hypermasculine white American male and the disenfranchised "illegal" immigrant, that reinforce and challenge the dominant discourse present in the hegemonic state and which are deconstructed when rearticulated in everyday border life; 2) to analyze why the museum represents a homotopia within the limits of a heterotopia; 3) to learn how the museum creates imagined communities through the use of its historical patrimony; 4) to observe the practices in relations of power by employing the notion of panopticon in their design and impose power over its visitors; and finally 5) to understand how the museum is providing a commodification of symbols to promote the hegemonic state. I reference historical events to frame the research for this project: history of the border, especially the El Paso border region, the creation of The Fraternal Order of Retired Border Patrol Officers, the history of the Border Patrol and the NBPM. Altogether, this work shows how the National Border Patrol Museum's exhibits and artifact displays are a reflection of what is happening in the border region.

CHDS State/Local / Illegal cross-border activity is a severe homeland defense and security problem along the international Southwest border. The issue of illegal human smuggling is not new to the United States-Mexico border or to law enforcement agencies; however, the phenomenon is rising and human smugglers are adjusting to law enforcement tactics. This thesis has three objectives. First, it describes and identifies the fundamental dimensions of U.S. Border Patrol operations in the busiest, most vulnerable section of the border. Second, it integrates prominent border security factors into a mathematical predictive model -- the Arizona-Sonora Border (ASB) Model * that provides an illustration of possible border security operational strategies and the outcome apprehension probability of migrants given the implementation of various operational strategies. Last, this thesis seeks to provide a comprehensive picture of the complex dynamics along the USBP Tucson Sector. This picture highlights the primary challenges facing policymakers in developing innovative policies that will minimize illegal cross-border activity and secure the homeland. / Southwest Border Specialist, Arizona Office of Homeland Security

The thesis deals with the historical development of cross-border cooperation in the Euroregion Šumava which is the Czech part of the Czech-German and the Czech-Austrian border defined as Euroregion Šumava/ Bayerischer Wald - Unterer Inn/ Mühlviertel. The main objective is to find out how joint cross- border cooperation has changed from the initial idea of joint cross-border cooperation through the establishment of the Euroregion Šumava to the present. Another objective is to identify regional differences in the development of cross-border cooperation from the perspective of three model areas that have different scale levels. The overall aim is to identify changes in the evolution of cross-border cooperation and an attempt to explain the causes of possible variabilities. The thesis is based on quantitative research in the form of cross-border analysis of completed projects and qualitative research based on structured interviews with selected respondents. A prerequisite of this thesis is both the shift from cross-border cooperation "bottom up" to "top down" and the subsequent interconnection of both forms. It is further assumed considerable regional differentiation. Both assumptions were confirmed through mutual reporting periods as well as comparison of model municipalities. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Cette thèse porte sur l'impact du commerce (transfrontalier) sur les relations, les perceptions entre la Turquie et l'Irak, plus précisément entre deux région kurdes : le Kurdistan de Turquie d'un côté, le Kurdistan d'Irak de l'autre. Ce travail va nous permettre de comprendre et d'analyser les relations économiques, sociales et culturelles de part et d'autre de la frontière. En tant que séparatrice des deux régions kurdes, la frontière turco-irakienne tient une position qui joue un rôle significatif ; c'est une séparation mais aussi une zone de contact. Plusieurs acteurs jouent un rôle dans le commerce frontalier de cette région. Les principaux sont les États (ou « quasi-État » si l'on considère le gouvernement autonome du Kurdistan d'Irak comme un État dans l'État fédéral d'Irak), ainsi que les entrepreneurs des deux côtés de la frontière.Après la guerre du golfe en 2003, la région du nord de l'Irak est devenue davantage liée à la Turquie qu'à l'Irak. Ce phénomène s'étant accentué de nos jours. Des milliers de camions franchissent quotidiennement les frontières qui séparent le Kurdistan d'Irak et la Turquie, les entreprises et les ouvriers travaillant au Kurdistan irakien sont pour l'essentiel des Kurdes de Turquie.Dans ce contexte le commerce est important par son rôle de communication. Il est également significatif en tant que lien symbolique entre les deux régions frontalières. En outre, ce commerce confirme à nouveau le rôle du Kurdistan irakien comme référence de la mouvance kurde dans son ensemble. / This thesis deals with the impacts of the cross-border trade on the perceptions, on the relations between Turkey and Iraq, more precisely between two Kurdish regions: Turkish Kurdistan on one side, Iraqi Kurdistan on the other. This study allows us to understand and analyse political, economic and cultural relations by means of border trade between two border regions on either side of the border. By acting as a divide between the two Kurdish regions, the Turkish-Iraqi border plays a significant role as a barrier but also a zone of contact. Several actors play a role in the border trade of this region. The main ones are the States (or quasi-State if we consider the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan as a State within the federal state of Iraq), as well as the entrepreneurs on both sides of the border.After the Gulf War in 2003, the north of Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan) became more linked to Turkey than to the rest of the country. This phenomenon has become more and more present. Every day, thousands of trucks cross the border separating Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey, the firms and workers working in Iraqi Kurdistan are mostly Turkish Kurds.In this context, trade is important through its role of communication. It is also significant as a symbolic link attaching both sides. Furthermore, this trade again confirms the role of Iraqi Kurdistan as a reference for the whole Kurdish region.

This paper begins with looking into the history of cross-border cooperation. It also includes a preview of the development of cross-border cooperation in Europe and a promotion of cross-border cooperation in the European Union. Subsequently, there is a view of cross-border cooperation in the Czech Republic in the paper. The paper itself is focused on a comparison of cross-border operational cooperation programs, The Czech Republic -- The Republic of Poland and The Czech Republic -- The Free State of Saxony, in terms of administrative and content parameters. Administrative and content parameters are compared in the new programming period, i.e. the programming period 2007 -- 2013. This paper aims to describe the set of administrative and content parameters in both programs and identify the cross-border cooperation operational program with better defined parameters.

Loin de disparaître dans le cadre de la mondialisation des échanges, les frontières de l’Union indienne s’effacent devant certains flux pour se manifester vivement devant les flux jugés indésirables. Parallèlement au renforcement des contrôles des passages transfrontaliers, trois des six dyades de l’Union indienne font l’objet d’une teichopolitique, c’est-à-dire de la construction d’une barrière frontalière. Ces trois barrières ont pour objectif de réorienter tous les flux vers des points de passage où un tri est effectué entre les flux qui peuvent entrer sur le territoire et ceux qu’il convient de refouler. Les flux sont ainsi hiérarchisés en fonction de leur degré de désirabilité. Ils sont alors traités de manière différentielle en fonction des risques qu’ils représentent pour la sécurité de la société indienne. Les principaux flux indésirables sont les migrations clandestines, les trafics illicites et illégaux et les mouvements d’activistes dont les projets vont à l’encontre des intérêts indiens. L’hypothèse principale de cette thèse est que les trois barrières frontalières érigées par le gouvernement indien depuis le début des années 2000 sont des dispositifs biopolitiques dans la mesure où leur objectif est de filtrer les flux pour empêcher les entrées indésirables sur le territoire indien. Bien plus, ces barrières sont les manifestations de la radicalisation contemporaine du biopouvoir indien. L’objectif de cette thèse est d’appliquer une réflexion biopolitique à l’analyse des barrières frontalières indiennes et de poser les bases d’un système explicatif de ces phénomènes. Cette recherche a été initiée afin de mieux appréhender la théorisation de ces objets géographiques et géopolitiques. / Far from disappearing in the era of globalization, Indian Union borders are no longer policed against some immigration flows; conversely, they have been tightened against other unwelcome flows. In parallel with the reinforcement of cross-border flow controls, three of the six Indian land borders have been subjected to teichopolitics, that is to say the erection of border barriers. The aim of these border barriers is to redirect all the cross-border flows towards checkpoints, where they are sorted into different groups, namely those that are allowed in and those that are to be rejected. Thus prioritized in terms of social desirability, they are dealt with according to the risks they represent for Indian society. The main unwelcome flows are induced by clandestine migrants, traffickers and activists, whose plans can run counter to Indian interests. The main hypothesis of this research is that the three border barriers created by the Indian government since the beginning of the millenium are biopolitical devices. Indeed, their objective is to filter cross-border flows to prevent the unwelcome from entering the Indian territory. Moreover, these barriers manifest the contemporary radicalisation of Indian biopower. The aim of this thesis is to apply a biopolitical approach to the analysis of Indian border barriers and to propose an explanatory system for the understanding of this geopolitical phenomenon. This research was initiated in order to evolve a theory concerning these geographical and geopolitical factors.