F1: In:Security in Border Regions (Workshop)

Description

As a result of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and ensuing global political events, security perceptions and discourses have changed, notably in those regions that border or are in close proximity to the Russian Federation. Security concepts, orders and visions have become even more contested today. Yet, in times where hard security themes and state centrism are once again on the rise, we want to look beyond and provide room for the discussion of lay understandings of security “from below”. This implies paying particular attention to ordinary people’s perceptions of security and insecurity and the changes in respective security discouses. Thus, this workshop endeavours to bring together experts from academia and think tanks with practioners from civil society on the ground. The theoretical basis, also in view of an envisioned future publication, will consist of a combination of border and critical/vernacular security studies. We will approach the topic, however, in a policy-oriented manner.

Key questions

How have perceptions of borders/neighbourhood changed since February 24, 2022?
How have border regions changed materially (in terms of border control/management, militarisation etc.)? And how has this affected border crossing practices?
Which new insecurities and threats have emerged and exacerbated ever since? What role do parallel dynamics, as international migration, extraordinary measures in the context of the pandemic or trade restrictions/embargos play?
What new needs, demands and expectations in relation to security exist among different actor groups (contrasting perspectives of state, experts/think tanks, civil society/ordinary people)? Which role do borders take in changing discourses with regard to in:security?

Methodology and sources

In:Security in Border Regions

Project team

Sabine von Löwis is senior researcher at ZOiS since 2017 and head of the research cluster Conflict Dynamics and Border Regions.

She studied Economic and Social Geography at the Technical University of Dresden (TU Dresden) and gained a doctorate in political science at HafenCity University in Hamburg. She has held positions at various university and non-university research institutes, working on projects on the stability and change of spatial structures in urban and rural areas. From 2011 to 2017, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre Marc Bloch, where she was involved in the joint research project Phantomgrenzen in Ostmitteleuropa (Phantom borders in East Central Europe) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Having studied the persistence and dissolution of spatial structures in Western Ukraine within this project framework, she now focuses her research on the post-Soviet space.

Curriculum Vitae (last updated: 23/02/21)

Nadja Douglas is a political scientist and a researcher at ZOiS.

Nadja Douglas studied Political Science, Philosiophy and History at the University of Bonn and the University of Washington in Seattle. She holds a master’s degree in international relations from Sciences Po Paris and a PhD from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin In the context of her doctoral thesis (published with Palgrave Macmillan in 2017), she spent a considerable amount of time in various parts of Russia. Prior to taking up her current position, she worked as a Liaison Officer for the German OSCE Chairmanship 2016 at the OSCE Mission to Moldova and as an advisor on security and defence policy at the German Bundestag. She also held positions at the International Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE and the Development and Peace Foundation in Bonn. From 2015 to 2016, she was a member of the editorial team of Russland Analysen.

CV Nadja Douglas

Sabine von Löwis is senior researcher at ZOiS since 2017 and head of the research cluster Conflict Dynamics and Border Regions.

Curriculum Vitae (last updated: 23/02/21)

Nadja Douglas is a political scientist and a researcher at ZOiS.

CV Nadja Douglas