Contemporary frontiers are not simply

lines on maps, the unproblematic givens

of political life, where one jurisdiction

or political authority ends and another

begins; they are central to understanding

political life. Examining the justifica-

tions of frontiers raises crucial, often

dramatic, questions concerning citizen-

ship, identity, political loyalty, exclu-

sion, inclusion and the ends of the state.

(M. Anderson, 1996: 1)

International boundaries have long been among

the most important objects of research in political

and cultural geography. They have been under-

stood as material elements in cultural landscape

and seen as lines that distinguish ‘power struc-

tures’ and sovereign states, and which provide

opportunities for cooperation and discord. Yet

boundaries are much more than marks of ‘the

limits of sovereignty’ (Prescott, 1987: 80).

During the 1990s, borders and boundaries have

become keywords in social science and cultural

studies as the world around us has changed.

Researchers have challenged the ideas of fixed

boundaries, identities, truths and power and

instead have put stress on the fragmentary and

the impermanent nature of boundaries. In this

situation, borders and boundaries are increas-

ingly understood as ‘zones of mixing, blending,

blurring and hybridizations’ where both material

and symbolic dimensions and power relations

come together (Bhabha, 1994; Thrift, 1996).

There are many reasons for the current interest

in boundaries. Firstly, the fall of the Berlin Wall

and the fading of superpower conflict meant that

both ‘east’ and ‘west’ lost the ‘others’ that were

used in constructing geopolitical practices and

images of threat (Figure 24.1). Secondly, violent

redefinition of territorial and ethnic identities

around the world has displayed the persistent

violence and contested role that boundaries still

play in the lives of many of the world’s peoples.

Thirdly, the process of globalization and the

unprecedented flows of capital, goods and ideas

across the world today have problematized our

governing notions of borders, boundaries and

sovereignty. Finally, environmental risks have

revealed the porousness of state boundaries.

These dynamics are unfolding in different

ways in different places. In my own city of Oulu

in northern Finland, the cultural geographies of

boundaries are very dynamic. Located on the

western coast of Finland, Oulu is about 130 kilo-

metres from the Finnish–Swedish boundary, and

more than 250 km from the Finnish–Russian

border. The former has been open and practically

insignificant for decades, and became even more

so when both Finland and Sweden joined the

European Union. The Finnish border with Russia

has been crucial for the narratives of Finnish

national identity since the nineteenth century and

for the practices of foreign policy since Finland

gained its independence in 1917. It was strictly

controlled during the years of Cold War and the

Soviet Union: basically all forms of cross-border

interaction were decided at the level of the two

states (Paasi, 1996). A several kilometres wide

frontier zone was established on both sides of the

borderline after World War II. On the Finnish

side people needed permission to move on the

zone, issued to Finnish citizens by the Finnish

Border Guard Detachment and to foreigners by

the Security Police. The Soviet zone was kept

almost empty. After the collapse of the west–east

divide the modes of interaction became more

versatile. Other actors, like municipalities and

firms, now shape the everyday cultural geography

24

Boundaries in a Globalizing World

Anssi Paasi

3029-ch24.qxd 03-10-02 11:03 AM Page 462