Theoretical Approaches of the border studies

Abstract

In the 21st century, border problems are of great importance for many people, as well as a century ago. Unfortunately, modern research gives priority to the theoretical aspect of analyzing the essence of borders and border processes, but not to the practical solution to border problems themselves. It should be noted that, at the initial stage of border research, it acquired a practice-oriented approach, where the research focused on studying the issues of border delimitation, settlement of border conflicts, etc. The article examines such traditional approaches as cartographic, classificatory, functional, political-geographical and postmodern approaches, which arose mainly in the 1990s and early 2000s. The author believes that traditional approaches have failed to answer the following questions: Why do zones that have been peaceful border zone for a long time turn into violent conflicts in a matter of days? Why do the government and society pay special attention to issues related to the state border? The aforementioned postmodern approaches were necessary to answer unanswered questions. Although the representatives of these approaches could not find a solution to all the contradictions of limology, the author concluded that both traditional and postmodern approaches have the potential to address issues such as delimitation, increasing the efficiency of cross-border cooperation, effective ways to strengthen border control and security, settlement border conflicts, non-violation of the interests and rights of people crossing the border.