Since the mid-1980s, the EU has engaged in a “liberal de-bordering” process of removing or perforating the borders of the Union and the member states in the interest of market expansion, democracy promotion and transnational community building. In the “polycrisis” of the EU, this policy has come under pressure from the inside and the outside because of its own functional deficiencies and by the spread of nationalist and populist governments within the EU and in its international environment. Re-bordering can take different directions, however. Whereas it may lead to disintegration – the re-establishment of national borders between the member states – it could also produce more integration through the hardening external borders, while keeping internal borders open. The contributions to the workshop will examine and assess “re-bordering” in a variety of policy areas and across a variety of political actors and fora.

Organiser: Prof. Frank Schimmelfennig (ETH Zürich)