Borders of comfort: Spatial economic bordering processes in the European Union

Abstract:

This article explores the social processes of making and reproducing borders through economic activities. Why, from an economic perspective, is the economy not borderless? What exactly is protected when borders are produced? Economic bordering processes and practices of protection are induced by a desire for comfort, and protect against experienced uneasiness and uncertainty in society. In this theoretical attempt to reach a deeper understanding of economic bordering, it is concluded that the development of the European Union, and the commodification of bordered spaces - urban and regional - within it, are regarded as 'place-making' processes with major implications in terms of solidarity and exclusion.