Abstract
Borders, with reference to the dividing lines between different states, are one of the most heavily institutionalized concepts in the practice of international relations. A whole range of other borders escape our attention if we frame questions with conceptual a priori such as the state-centered view of the world and its norm ative parallels in the b/ordering principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. This chapter reflects on three interrelated aspects of this problem. First, it discusses analytical perspectives for examining how the bordering practices of non-state actors, internationally unrecognized but internally functioning de facto states, as well as state agencies, challenge and consolidate internationally recognized borders. Second, it argues that the erosion of international law relating to state borders has made these principles susceptible to political uses and that these discus sions have left in their shadow the dynamic social processes in which borders are contested, created and confirmed in international relations. The third argument is that inquiries into the reality of borders in relation to the concepts that define them with practical implications must have a place in research in order to address this problem and to be able to proactively contribute to the prevention of destructive outbursts of border-related conflicts. The chapter proposes a pragmatist interpretation of reality for unfolding the depth of borders beyond the state.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
We use ‘international relations’ as a general description of the empirical area of study that is multidisciplinary in its origins. The term ‘IR’ (International Relations) again is more specific and refers to the discussions that seek to develop a field with its own identity (the Great Debates, IR Theory, etc.). ‘International Affairs’ is a traditional description of the area of study where diplomatic relations and international organization are the main focus. All such terms are discursive and have emerged with different foci in the history of the field of study.
- 2.
Although it can be said that ideas become ‘true’ when they are ‘proved’ by events and processes, this is seldom a simple matter of fact but depends also on attitudes and perspectives (Searle 1995, pp. 1–13), and consequently does not represent anything like the whole truth or the final truth. For these reasons we prefer to speak about truth as being the pursuit and the idea(l) of an ultimate consensus, as a pursuit that is present in the questioning of reality.
- 3.
Epistemic idealism refers to the assumption that ‘idea’ and ‘practice’ are different categories and that the first is primary in relation to the second. Theory-centered discourses are an example because they outline problem formulations independently of context (Toulmin 1990). Rytövuori-Apunen (2005) discusses theory-centered approaches in the study of International Relations.
- 4.
The Dialectics of World Orders theoretical approach of Hayward Alker, Thomas Biersteker, Tahir Amin, and Takashi Inoguchi is an example. See their contributions in Marlin-Bennett’s edited volume (2012).
- 5.
Parham (2016b) is an insightful discussion of these processes in the context of Central Asia and China.
- 6.
At the OSCE Summit in Istanbul in November 1999 the Western states pressed for Russia’s complete withdrawal from Moldova and Georgia to be made a condition for signing the Adapted Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE).
- 7.
‘To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;’ (The Charter of the United Nations, Article 1(2)).
- 8.
Exemplary works are J. David Singer’s ‘The Level-of-Analysis Problem in International Relations’ in James N. Rosenau’s edited opus International Politics and Foreign Policy (New York: The Free Press, 1969) and Kenneth N. Waltz’s Man, the State and War: A Theoretical Analysis (New York: Columbia University Press, 1959). Much of the later discussion in the disciplinary mainstream arises from these works, including Waltz’s Theory of International Politics (Reading: Addison-Wesley, 1978) and the abundance of research that it has inspired by its further elaboration, as well as its constructivist criticism. The works by Alexander Wendt worth mentioning in this context are ‘Anarchy is what States Make of it: The Social Construction of Power Politics’ International Organization, Vol. 46, No. 2. (Spring, 1992), and Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
- 9.
The first joint border market was set up at Ishkashim in 1995. Since 2008, Tajikistan has set up Free Economic Zones (FEZ) in Ishkashim, Dangara and Pyanj. Corruption is a major problem in the implementation of these policies.
- 10.
The former market in the village of Ergneti had brought together Georgians, Ossetians and Russians to trade since 1996, and its closure in 2004 immediately reignited the long-lasting conflict between the Ossetians and the central government in Tbilisi (Eurasianet 2012).
- 11.
The Legal Code of Gagauz-Yeri, Art. 16(1), http://gagauzia.md/pageview.php?l=en&idc=389&id=240. The basic elements of this code, including the three official languages, are confirmed in the law on the status of Gagauzia adopted by the Moldovan Parliament on December 23, 1994.
- 12.
When Gagauzia organized its own parliamentary elections in October 1990, the possibility that Soviet troops from the 14th Army base in Transnistria could intervene prevented a group of tens of thousands of men representing the militant ranks of the Moldovan National Front from entering Gagauzia. In the preceding summer Gagauzia, and Transnistria, had declared independence from Moldova and claimed a status that made it subject only to Soviet central authority. See, for example, Chinn and Roper (1998).
- 13.
The use of the term ‘sovereignty’ in Gagauzia reflects the region’s post-Soviet political vocabulary. Because ‘sovereignty’ in Russian linguistic practices is synonymous with ‘independence’ in the sense of having the highest authority in decision-making the words can easily be associated with Moldova’s integration with the EU, i.e. they have an indirect meaning that is more comprehensive than a reference to Moldova’s formal merger with Romania.
- 14.
The Gagauz population in Moldova consists of around 155,000 people in 2016. Small Gagauz populations are also present in Ukraine, Turkey and Russia. The majority of the Gagauz are Orthodox Christians. Ethnically they are mixed with Eastern European (mainly Bulgarian) populations.
- 15.
The realist point of departure means that the mind-independent world is a continuous challenge to our thinking and the concepts through which we make sense of it. However, to speak of a ‘Realist ontology’ is problematic because the mind-independent reality (ens reale) only gains its unity (becomes ‘a world’) in our interpretation.
- 16.
This means that ‘reality’ in human interpretation is ‘experience’ in three mutually interrelated dimensions. The existential dimension, the question of ‘proof’ in the habitual sense, and the concepts and discourses which are about the possibility of communication by using the symbolic practices of language correspond to what C.S. Peirce calls the Firstness, Secondness and Thirdness of experience. See, for example, Peirce (1992). The concepts and discourses agreed in the EU’s institutional contexts are an example of the conventions of communication (Thirdness).
- 17.
In the present day, the special relationship with Moscow is manifested, for example, in the relatively speedy exemption of Gagauzian enterprises from the freeze on wine imports that Russian authorities implemented in autumn 2013 in relation to Moldovan producers (Bucataru 2015, 152). The Gagauz leadership emphasizes that the main problem of Gagauzia is economic development and that the main markets of the agricultural region are in Russia (Vlah 2016).
- 18.
See the information platform of crossing the border of the Republic of Moldova (Government of the Republic of Moldova). See also the country reports by Olga Filippova (on Ukraine) and by Octavian Ţîcu (on Moldova) (University of Eastern Finland, no date).
- 19.
This point is common among philosophers of language and interpretation. It follows from speech act theory, which distinguishes the illocutionary force and the perlocutionary effect from the locutionary meaning of speech (Austin 1962).
- 20.
In spring 2014, more than 70 % of Transnistria’s exports were to the ‘right bank’ of the Dniestr and to the member states of the European Union (Sobják 2014, p. 2). When Moldova’s Association Agreement with the EU entered implementation in September 2014, the ATP for Transnistria was extended, and it was extended later until the end of 2015. In December that year, the Transnistrian authorities reversed their previous policy and agreed to implement, within the next two years, the reforms required by the region’s inclusion in the Union’s Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (see, for example, Całus 2016).
References
Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bucataru, V. (2015). Moldova still at a cross-roads: Is the European path irreversible? In T. Rostoks & A. Spruds (Eds.), The different faces of “soft power”: The Baltic States and Eastern Neighborhood between Russia and the EU (pp. 139–161). Riga: Latvian Institute of International Affairs.
Burton, J. (1979). Deviance, terrorism & war: The process of solving unsolved social and political problems. Oxford: Martin Robertson.
Całus, K. (2016, January 15). The DCFTA in Transnistria: Who gains? New Eastern Europe, Articles and Commentary. Retrieved from http://neweasterneurope.eu/articles-and-commentary/1861-the-dcfta-in-transnistria-who-gains
Carr, E. H. (1939). The 20 years’ crisis 1919-1939. An introduction to the study of international relations. London: Macmillan.
Chinn, J., & Roper, S. D. (1998). Territorial autonomy in Gagauzia. Nationalities Papers, The Journal of Nationalities and Ethnicity, 26(1), 87–101.
Chorba, A. (2015, December 16). Pridnestrovian identity. Novosti Pridnestrovya. Retrieved from http://novostipmr.com/en/news/15-12-16/pridnestrovian-identity
Eurasianet. (2012, May 2). Can a flea market solve the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict? Eurasianet.org. Retrieved from http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65346
Ferguson, Y. H., & Mansbach, R. W. (1996). Polities. Authority, identities, and change. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.
Filippova, O. (2012). Dimensions of Transnistrian identity in present-day political developments. In H. Rytövuori-Apunen, H. Palu, S. Khatlamajyan, & N. Iskandaryan (Eds.), Security and development in a complex policy environment: Perspectives from Moldova, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan (pp. 35–52). Tampere Peace Research Institute, University of Tampere (Finland), Caucasus Institute (Armenia), and the Institute for Civil Society and Regional Development (Armenia). Yerevan: Limush Printhouse.
Formuzal, M. (2010, April 9). Long live the free, democratic, prosperous and open to the world Gagauzia! Governor of Gagauzia [Speech]. Retrieved from http://gagauzia.md/newsview.php?l=en&idc=467&id=1255
Government of the Republic of Moldova. Information platform of crossing the border of the Republic of Moldova. Retrieved from http://www.frontiera.gov.md/en
Huntington, S. P. (1996). The clash of civilizations and remaking of world order. London: Simon & Shuster.
Infotag. (2016, April 22). Gagauzia elders condemn Moldovan unionists. Infotag. Retrieved from http://www.infotag.md/rebelion-en/222862/
Katchanovski, I. (2006). Cleft countries: Regional political divisions and cultures in Post-Soviet Ukraine and Moldova. Stuttgart: ibidem.
Marlin-Bennett, R. (Ed.). (2012). Alker and IR: Global studies in an interconnected world. London: Routledge.
Nye, J. S., Jr. (2004). Soft power: The means to success in world politics. New York: PublicAffairs.
Parham, S. (2016a). ‘The problem with our borders in Batken’: Local understandings of border control and sovereignty in Kyrgyzstan. In H. Rytövuori-Apunen (Ed.), The regional security puzzle around Afghanistan. Bordering practices in Central Asia and beyond (pp. 51–78). Opladen: Barbara Budrich.
Parham, S. (2016b). China’s Borderlands: Inside People and Borders in Central Asia. London: I. B. Tauris.
Peirce, C. S. (1992/1878). How to make our ideas clear. In Charles Sanders Peirce: Collected papers. Charlottesville: InteLex. CD-ROM Databases. Also in Louis Menand (Ed.). (1997). Pragmatism: A reader (pp. 26–48). New York: Vintage Books.
RFE/RL. (2014, February 3). Gagauzia voters reject closer EU ties for Moldova. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved from http://www.rferl.org/content/moldova-gagauz-referendum-counting/25251251.html
Romashov, V. (2014). The nexus of linkage and leverage in Russia’s policy toward the near abroad: The case of Moldova. University of Tampere, School of Management, master’s thesis in International Relations. Retrieved from http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201412092386
Rytövuori-Apunen, H. (2005). Forget ‘Post-Positivist’ IR! The legacy of IR theory as the locus for a pragmatist turn. Cooperation and Conflict: Journal of the Nordic International Studies Asso ciation, 40(2), 147–177.
Rytövuori-Apunen, H. (2016). Introduction: Bordering practices challenging state borders. In H. Rytövuori-Apunen (Ed.), The regional security puzzle around Afghanistan. Bordering prac tices in Central Asia and beyond (pp. 1–28). Opladen: Barbara Budrich.
Rytövuori-Apunen, H., & Usmonov, F. (2016). Tajikistan’s unsettled security: Borderland dynamics of the outpost on Russia’s Afghan frontier. In H. Rytövuori-Apunen (Ed.), The regional security puzzle around Afghanistan. Bordering practices in Central Asia and beyond (pp. 131–160). Opladen: Barbara Budrich.
Searle, J. R. (1995). The construction of social reality. London: Allen Lane, Penguin Press.
Sobják, A. (2014). Is Transnistria the next Crimea? The Polish Institute of International Affairs. Bulletin 49 (644).
Toulmin, S. (1990). Cosmopolis: The hidden agenda of modernity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
University of Eastern Finland. Karelian Institute. Retrieved from http://www2.uef.fi/en/ktl/state-of-the-art-reports
Ursu, V., & Raileanu, D. (2014, February 2). Concerned about EU integration, Moldova’s Gagauz region holds disputed referendum. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved from http://www.rferl.org/content/moldova-gagauzia-eu-referendum/25249087.html
USA Today. (2015, January 30). Ukraine to ask U.N. to call Russia a terrorism sponsor. USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/01/30/ukraine-russia-terror-sponsor/22593733/
Van Houtum, H., Oliver, K., & Wolfgang, Z. (Eds.). (2005). B/ordering space. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Vlah, I. (2016, March 21). ‘Irina Vlah: Many identify themselves with the Russian world, the authorities don’t like it’. The Newspapers, News from Russia [Interview]. Retrieved from http://the-newspapers.com/2016/03/21/irina-vlah-many-identify-themselves-with-the-russian-world-the-authorities-dont-like-it
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Additional information
This chapter has been produced in the framework of the research project Proactive Conflict Management at Post-Soviet Deep Borders, funded by the Academy of Finland during 2012–2016.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rytövuori-Apunen, H. (2017). The Depth of Borders Beyond the State: Analytical, Normative and Epistemic Challenges of Study. In: Günay, C., Witjes, N. (eds) Border Politics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46855-6_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46855-6_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-46854-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-46855-6
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)