Development of the Slovak Borderlands with an Emphasis on the Situation After Schengen: Internal and External Borders

Abstract

This comparison of internal and external Schengen borders in a single country (namely Slovakia) will be based on an assessment of the overall development of Slovakia’s border regions in a time of transformation and in relation to all key periods—the creation of the independent Slovak Republic (1993), the elimination of Slovakia’s political and social isolation (1998) and the country’s entry into the European Union (2004). The main emphasis will be placed on changes in the border regions of Slovakia associated with the entry to the Schengen area (2007) on internal (with Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Austria) and external (Ukraine) borders. In the introductory parts, the analysis will focus on the implementation of cross-border cooperation with neighbouring countries, the forming of Euroregions, and their activities since the establishment of independent Slovakia until the present day. The chapter will also include a basic description of border regions based on the research of its individual sections carried out so far: Jeřábek (Geografické rozhledy 10:6–7, 2000) and Halás (Cezhraničné väzby, cezhraničná spolupráca (na príklade slovensko-českého pohraničia s dôrazom na jeho slovenskú časť). Univerzita Komenského, Bratislava, p. 152, 2005)—Czech section; Rechnitzer (The features of the transition of Hungary’s regional system. Centre for regional studies, Pécs, 2000)—Hungarian section; Drgoňa (Transformačný proces a jeho vplyv na regionálnu štruktúru Slovenska. Univerzita Konštantína Filozofa, Nitra, p. 138, 2001)—Polish section; Rajčáková (Regionálny rozvoj a regionálna politika. Univerzita Komenského, Bratislava, 2005)—Austrian section; Popjaková (Institutionalization and organizational shapes of transfrontier cooperation. pp. 46–49, 1995) and Ivanička (Slovensko – Génius loci. Eurostav, Bratislava, 1999)—Ukrainian section.