Eleventh annual international academic conference on European integration borders: Imagined or real

Abstract

This volume is made up of selection of peer-reviewed chapters originally presented at the 11th international conference entitled: “Borders: Imagined or Real” which was held in Skopje on 21 May 2016. The main goal of the conference had been to provide an in-depth examination of the concepts of borders which over the years have been shown to have a strong presence and impact upon European societies, particularly with regard to their development and growth. Certainly, from a European Union perspective it cannot be denied that cross-border cooperation is one of the key phenomena that both characterizes and influences the current process of European integration. As such the conference sought to raise an awareness of the importance of the study of borders, and whether or not they are driven by territoriality or by government policy, through an investigation of their dynamic structures and elements. The conference also sought to explore new and alternative scenarios in the shaping and visualization of borders set against the concept of European integration from a critical and forward-looking perspective.