Researching cross-border cooperation under the shadow of COVID 19 pandemic: scientific report from e-conferences and blog-reflections produced between 14 March and 21 June 2020

Hynek Böhm

Technical University Liberec
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0548-9645

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to try to summarize, how, the scholars researching border studies and cross-border cooperation practitioners reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic during the period from 16 of March to 21 of June 2020. As it was not possible to follow all the texts (often published without peer-review in thematic blogs) and events, the overview is not exhausting. Another goal of this text is to synthesize the main messages of those texts and events and to identify possible future trends in border studies. We will most likely experience the discourse change which will lead us towards studying impacts of re-bordering rather than de-bordering. We can also expect the lower engagement of the local and regional actors in cross-border cooperation, which will be in some border contexts considered as an unnecessary luxury.

Keywords:

pandemic, cross-border co-operation, re-bordering, COVID-19, border studies, border regime